A New Adventure with an Old Team
by Typetypetype
Summary: Team Kakashi is back in action, Sakura can finally see her teammates after two and a half years of training, they've gotten stronger and their missions are getting harder with the number of enemies growing.Romantic Action. Sequel of 'A Different Story'
1. The Reunion

Hey guys, it's been a while hasn't it. Sorry it took over a month for me to post this, I felt a bit unsure whether to post it or not when I got those flames in my previous story, but I've decided to try my best to correct my grammar and spelling error and try to make the story more interesting, though I recommend you to skip the boring parts if you don't like it. And as you can see, my story consist of mostly dialogues, If you want the story to be in more detail, just let me know. And I'd be glad to explain anything that you don't understand, anyways please enjoy for now.

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**The Reunion**

"It's almost time, right….. Sakura" said Tsunade, she was looking out the window with an excited smirk.

"Yeah….. Tsunade-sama" replied Sakura.

Somewhere in the village

"It should be about time they return…" said Neji.

"Oh! Then I'd better get ready to challenge them to a match when they return" said Lee.

"That's my student" said Gai, a waterfall coming from his eyes as he gave Lee a thumbs up.

"Sakura-chan….. she's been through a long wait, hasn't she" said Tenten.

"She's been working extra hard ever since they left" said Neji.

Training Grounds…

"Naruto that bastard is coming back soon, isn't he" said Kiba.

"Naruto-kun….." muttered Hinata, shyly.

"Sasuke-kun too" said Shino.

In the Konoha Library….

Team Asuma was helping out in sorting out the documents of the enemy infiltrators last night.

"Ino, this isn't suppose to be here" said Shikamaru to his female teammate.

"Ah, sorry…" said Ino, hurrying over to take the document from Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sighed "Don't worry so much, they'll come back" said Shikamaru.

"Eh? Is it really that obvious?" said Ino.

"Like an open book" said Shikamaru.

They stared at each other for a moment before Choji cut in "Shikamaru~ here's the other part of the document you asked for" he called out.

"Shh…. Choji, this is a library, you can't be so loud" said Asuma.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head "Why are we stuck doing this troublesome mission in the first place"

"Because you three were the only ones who saw them" said Asuma.

"Troublesome…." He muttered.

"Mou….. Shikamaru, you're so lazy" said Ino.

"Then sorry about that" said Shikamaru, but he didn't mean it at all.

Sakura had just came back from the Hokage's office, she walked into the empty mansion and up to her room, she flopped down onto the bed and closed her eyes for a second, she could feel their chakra, closing in, but she can't tell when they'll reach Konoha, so she decided to wait for them at the gate till they arrive.

She sat at the bench near the gate, she played with the leave that fell from the tree next to her, she would use her chakra to balance up as many leaves as she could, but soon she got tired of it, and the sun was setting soon, she folded her knees and hugged them.

She revised all the poison and antidotes she learned from Tsunade in her head, but after she did that, it was already pretty late, and she was getting sleepy, her eyelids became very heavy, she would often let it fall for a second before it shot right back up.

'Hurry up and come home….. Sasuke…. Naruto' thought Sakura before she buried her head in her knees, slowly drifting to sleep.

Meanwhile, somewhere outside the village…

"This is Team Ame, We've successfully reached A point" said the captain of team Ame, his men scattered in hiding behind him as he reports to the commander.

The commander was back at the camp that was set up to the far east outside the village.

"Good, we can't afford to be seen like last night, so be careful, Team Mizu, what's the situation inside the village" said the commander.

"I sense two chuunin guards, at the side of the gate" said one of the three sensory Ame-nin who hid their chakra well.

"That's all?" asked the commander.

"There aren't any signs of the patrol squad at the entrance yet" said the second man.

"But wait, there's anyone one, it's a little further into the village, but I sense it, I dun think it's conscious, the chakra is pretty calmed" said the third one.

"That's no ordinary chakra, I know this chakra, Haruno Sakura, she was part of Team Kakashi that defeated a whole squadron of chuunin back at Amegakure, but before that, she was one of Iwagakure's assassins during the great war" said the first man.

"I heard they split ways" said the commander.

"According to the intel, her teammates are suppose to return around this time" replied the sensor.

"Good, we'll use her to get intel and a hostage" said the commander.

"Give us your orders, sir" the Captain of Team Ame.

"Capture Haruno Sakura and make her give us the information we need" said the Commander.

"Yes sir" replied captains of both teams.

"How long do you think it'll take before they notice us, Sasuke" said a low, superior voice.

Team Mizu was taken by surprise, they looked up and saw two shinobi with the konoha forehead protector.

"Oh, they noticed us" said Itachi.

"That's cause you foolishly gave us away, nii-san" said a voice that hasn't been heard in konoha for a long time.

They armed themselves with kunais and took their stance.

"Who's there?" demanded the captain.

"What's wrong" said the commander.

"We've been found, sir" said the captain.

Sasuke and Itachi jumped down from the branch and blocked their way.

"Who is it" said the commander.

Team Mizu stood rooted to the ground, then the captain, who was in front took a step back.

"U-U-Uchi….." he choked back the words when Sasuke's sharingan appeared and a light spark lit in his hand, he lifted his hand like he was holding something in his hands, the light sparks suddenly exploded into a wild lightning ball (Chidori).

"Uchiha Sasuke!" Team Mizu shouted before, the they were thrown out of the forest with a sparks flying out and into the path that leads to the village, their bodies laid unconscious on the ground, Sasuke's chidori died out.

"You were a bit slow there, Sasuke" said Itachi.

"There's no point in getting serious with these small fry" said Sasuke.

"Is that suppose to be an excuse?" said Itachi.

"Have it your way" said Sasuke, then his eyes rolled to the side, he saw more enemy chakra moving towards the village, he ran off again.

"Team Mizu! Team Mizu, come in, what happened!" said the captain of team Ame.

One of them was still conscious, but not for long, he took that chance to say something "It-It's Uchiha Sasuke… retreat….! Hurry!" he shouted desperately.

On the other line….

"Genzawa! Please reply!"

"Sir! Up front!" said one of his subordinates.

They stopped running and looked at Sasuke.

"So you're back" said the captain.

"You're not taking a step over me" said Sasuke.

"We've got you outnumbered" said the captain.

"Then let's see how you do in skills" Sasuke whispered in the captain's ear as he held his kunai against his neck behind him.

The captain's eyes widened 'How did he…..?'

"Die!" shouted a shinobi from the group as he raced towards Sasuke, throwing multiple kunais at him.

Sasuke disappeared and the kunais stabbed into the captain.

"Captain!" shouted the men.

"You fools….. retreat now…. He's not someone you can fool around with anymore" said the captain, limping.

"But he's seen us, he must be eliminated"

Sasuke pulled out his Kusanagi no Tsurugi that was tied behind his lower back, he held in with one hand at first then it lit up in sparks.

"It doesn't matter if you run or not, cause all of you are going to stop here" said Sasuke, his head lowered and his eyes looking up in a dangerous dark glare.

They all froze in fear, neither one dared to make a sudden move, Sasuke suddenly appeared in front the man who threw the kunai at him, and took him down with a slash across the chest, soon the whole team came after him, the forest sparked up and before they knew it, they were lying on the ground, unconscious.

Sasuke sheathed his sword then looked down on the unconscious man with the communicator on, then he heard someone speak on the other line.

"Oh, Sasuke, you're there aren't you" said a familiar voice through the device.

"Naruto….?" Said Sasuke, he went over to pick the communicator up.

"I took out the commander, looks like you're done on your side too" said Naruto.

"How'd you know I did it" said Sasuke.

"Your chidori….. it's noticeable from even here" said Naruto.

"Looks like you're grown a brain" said Sasuke.

"I've always had one!" shouted Naruto through the other line.

"Noisy as always" said Sasuke.

"I'm not!"

Without another word, Sasuke dropped the communicator on the ground and started walking to the village.

Itachi was following landed beside him and began walking "Well done, Sasuke, I'll report to the fifth, so you head home first when we reach the village" said Itachi.

"I was going to do that without you telling me" said Sasuke.

Itachi raised his eyebrows then disappeared when they reached the gate.

"Oi, Kotetsu, isn't that Sasuke-kun?" said Izumo, half asleep.

Sasuke turned to them.

"It is, he's back…!" said Kotetsu, just waking up.

"We must tell the fifth" said Izumo.

"There's no need, Nii-san had already gone to the fifth" said Sasuke.

"Oi, You'd better take her home before she catches a cold" said Kotetsu, nodding his head over at Sakura who was sleeping on the bench, she was hugging her legs and her head was buried in her knees, she was right under the street light.

"Sakura….!" Said Sasuke.

Kotetsu and Izumo tried to take a closer look from their post, leaning over and looking at them with interest.

Sasuke stepped into the light and looked down at the sleeping beauty, then leaned over to pick her up.

Her light snoring caused a faint hint of pink on his cheeks, he looked down at her with a soft expression as he walks the streets of the Uchiha territory once again.

When he entered the mansion, it was just the way he remembered it, when he pushed open Sakura's door with his feet, he found her bed flooded with books, her shelves too, there were some on the floor.

"How does this girl sleep in here….." he muttered, then he heard Sakura groan a little then tugged at his shirt.

A shiver went down his spine, he sighed "I guess there's no choice" he went over to his room and put her down on his bed. He got the chance to see her adorable sleeping face again, words can't explain how happy he was to see her. He left the room with a smile.

Next Day….

"You moron, she's still sleeping, you're going to wake her up"

"I just want to take a glance at her!"

"You can do that after she wakes up"

"You bastard, you wanna keep Sakura-chan for yourself don't you?"

"Shut up you loser, you're really gonna wake her"

Sakura's eyes shot open, she sat up.

"This is… Sasuke's room…" she looked down at the bed sheets, her eyes widened immediately 'This Chakra…..!'

She jumped off the bed and stumbled to the door, failing to turn the knob at the first try but she managed to get the door open with the next.

She raced down the stairs.

Sasuke and Naruto looked up the stairs in question.

But both perked up with their kunoichi teammate appeared at the top of the stairs, Sakura was so excited she tripped down at the 4th last step.

Her two teammates quickly caught her and held her up.

"Sakura-chan?" "Sakura?"

"Welcome back, Sasuke, Naruto…." She muttered.

"You don't have to rush like that, what would happen if you really fell" said Naruto.

"It's because you were being too loud and woke her up" said Sasuke.

"I wouldn't be so loud if you let me see her!" said Naruto.

"If you weren't so impatient! You wouldn't have woken her up" said Sasuke.

Sakura looked at them, then tears rolled down her cheeks, she lowered her head as she tries to wipe them away.

"S-Sakura…?" said Sasuke, nervously.

"Ah! A-Are you crying?" said Naruto, not knowing what to do.

"W-We get it, Sakura….! We'll stop fighting, so there's no need to cry" said Sasuke, putting his hands on her shoulders.

Sakura shook her head "It's just that –hic- it's so good having both of you back….." she raised her head, her eyebrows arched down and her eyes shimmering from the tears as she smiled.

The two boys felt a gush of heat rushing through them, Sasuke swallowed hard as Naruto stares at Sakura, blinded by how much she's grown.

She was wearing a red vest with a yellow shirt under it and a navy blue skirt that reached above her knees, her body had gotten more curvy, her chest grew, she was taller now, but Naruto and Sasuke was still at least half a head taller, and her face had matured, making her look more beautiful and elegant, her hair had grew, it ended at her hip now, Ino bugs her every time she thinks her hair had gotten too long and helps her maintain it and her jade eyes were still as mesmerizing as always. (She's wearing casual wear, not her shinobi outfit)

Sasuke didn't notice her changes since it was dark.

Sasuke was wearing a long sleeved black shirt with black arm protectors that showed his fingers, then he was wearing a white long sleeved jacket with the collars up, there was a black rope tied around his hip and tied behind it was his Kusanagi no Tsurugi that his brother gave him, telling him it was the very weapon their mother used, he wore long pants like Kakashi's and his pouch was tried around his thigh, and the other was included with the rope around his hip, he too had grown a lot, his hair was longer, his bangs didn't just frame his face, but there were strands of hair messy falling over his forehead and partially covering his konoha forehead protector symbol, the leftover ribbon after you tie the forehead protector on was longer now and it was black (Just like Naruto's)

Naruto was wearing an orange and black jumpsuit, his hair was longer and as spiky as ever, he had grown sideburns and he was about the same height as Sasuke. He looked more mature too, his cerulean eyes looked more wiser, though he still kept his cheeky grin.

"Oi oi, having the reunion without me, eh?" said a familiar voice.

Their heads turned to the door, Kakashi was leaning on the frame.

"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted Naruto.

"Yo, Naruto, Sasuke" said Kakashi.

"It's been awhile, Kakashi" said Sasuke.

"Ah… you two have grown….." said Kakashi.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"Hehe" Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"But" Kakashi said, his eyes became serious.

"Have you improved in your skills…..that's the real question" said Kakashi.

Sasuke smirked "Now we're talking"

Sakura smiled brightly, Naruto grinned knowingly.

They followed their sensei to the widely spaced outdoor training grounds, the place where Sasuke and Naruto were tested by Kakashi.

"This place sure brings back memories…" said Naruto.

"Yeah, on how much you messed up during the past" said Sasuke.

"What did you said, you bastard!" said Naruto, clenching his fist and holding it in front of him as he speaks.

"You two will never stop fighting, will you" said Kakashi.

"Ask him" they both said in unison, pointing at each other.

Sakura chuckled.

Kakashi sighed "Alright, I wanna see how much you've improved so we'll do a test" Kakashi lifted the two bells.

"Sasuke, Naruto, you should know this test very well" said Kakashi.

"Heh heh, I won't be the one to get tied to the pole again" said Naruto.

Sakura looked at him in question.

"I mean….. You'd better not get in my way again, Sasuke" said Naruto.

"That should be my line" said Sasuke.

A vein popped up on his head "Bastard…." He muttered.

"What kind of test is this" said Sakura, they all turned to her.

"Oh yeah, Sakura-chan didn't take the test, did she" said Naruto.

"Aa" replied Sasuke.

"Then I shall explain" Kakashi cut in "You three will go against me and try to take these two bells, you win if you get the bells" said Kakashi.

"But Sensei, there's only two bells and…. Three of us" said Sakura.

"Why did you think I called you out before breakfast, the one who didn't get the bell, must be tied to one of those poles while the winners ate their bento" said Kakashi, pointing at the pole and bento on the far sight of the field.

"I see…. But isn't three against one a little unfair" said Sakura.

"I guess you're right, I tested Sasuke and Naruto when they just graduated from the academy… but I guess things will be different now, won't it" said Kakashi.

"The last time he tested us, he was reading a book, he didn't even look like he was trying" said Naruto.

"We'll just have to show him how much we've improved" said Sasuke.

"What are you talking about, you three still have a long way to go before you can beat me" said Kakashi, his eyes closed in a smile.

The three eyed Kakashi carefully, for a whole minute, they stared at each other, then Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

Naruto charged straight ahead with a kunai, then lunging at Kakashi.

The next thing he knew, Naruto had his own kunai pointed at the back of his head.

"Some things just never change" said Kakashi, recalling how the same encountering happened 3 years ago when they were still young.

Kakashi's eyes rolled to the side "But, I guess you've matured a little" said Kakashi, Naruto's clone was pointing a kunai against his back.

"Hee….. You're fast, Naruto" said Sakura.

"Hehe" grinned Naruto.

"But, you're still impatient….. I haven't said start yet" said Kakashi, then he exploded in smoke.

"This is where the battle really starts" said Sasuke, All three of them went into hiding.

Kakashi could see them hiding around him.

'Good…. All of them are well hidden' he thought, suddenly a raid of kunais were thrown at him, Kakashi quickly moved away, the kunais stabbed into the tree behind him.

But after Kakashi dodged the kunais, he was ambushed by Sasuke, they broke out into a taijutsu battle.

Sasuke might be the only who in the team that could last in a taijutsu battle with Kakashi, but Sasuke's hand was caught in a lock, his eyes widened before he was thrown out of the trees, he was going to fall head first but he used his right hand to push against the ground and got back on his feet.

Kakashi shot out of the trees with Naruto's clones throwing themselves at him, then Kakashi turned around and faced the clones altogether.

With each one that comes for him, he knocks them out, Sasuke was about to charge in before a voice came up in his head.

'Wait, Sasuke'

He paused 'Sakura….? When did you-'

'Look what you're stepping on' said Sakura.

Sasuke looked under his foot and there lied Sakura's red ribbon kunai, he picked it up.

'And? How did you manage to predict where I would land' he thought.

'I didn't , I threw that right before you fell on both legs' thought Sakura.

'As expected, where are you' thought Sasuke.

'In the tree, 80 degrees to your left, the first one' thought Sakura.

Sasuke looked where she directed, there she stood on a branch, waving at him.

'What are you intending to do' thought Sasuke.

'I've already told Naruto the plan, he's going to distract Kakashi-sensei while we prepare for another attack' thought Sakura.

'Continue' thought Sasuke.

Sakura gave Naruto the signal, suddenly all his clones jumped into air and threw shurikens and kunais at him in all direction.

Suddenly a puff of smoke filled the area where he was suppose to be, Sakura stepped into the field.

"Right…." She said, as she pulled down her gloves.

'Oi oi, why do I have to hide behind a tree…..' thought Sasuke.

'I wonder if she really meant it about breaking down the ground…..' thought Naruto.

'If he can't escape through the air and he can't dodge the attack, he'd probably go underground so…' thought Sakura, she landed a punch on the ground, nothing happened at first, but then the ground began cracking and suddenly exploded and crumbled.

Naruto and Sasuke became stone.

'What's with that massive strength…..' thought Sasuke.

'S-Scary…..' thought Naruto.

Sakura looked straight ahead, where Kakashi was hiding underground.

"Yo, Sensei" said Sakura with a smile.

"Interesting…. You charge your chakra into your fist and let them out at one point in your fist at the exact time it hits the ground, powering up the impact, without perfect control over your chakra, you wouldn't be able to do it… Looks like the fifth had been teaching Sakura more than just medical techniques….." muttered Kakashi, he heard wild chirping sounds, his eyes widened and he turned.

But before he could react, Sasuke jabbed his hand into him.

"Chidori!" his sharingan activated.

Kakashi exploded with a puff of smoke.

"Kh….. Kage Bunshin, huh" said Sasuke, he suddenly noticed more chakra than normal, he looked up and an army of Kakashi stood around them.

Tsunade, Jiraiya and Itachi were watching from the shadows.

Tsunade chuckled "What are you going to do now…. Sakura"

"He's trying to confuse us! Cover me, I'll look for him" shouted Sakura, she immediately closed her eyes.

"Hey wait a minute, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto, one of Kakashi's clones was just about to kick Sakura when Sasuke grabbed his leg and threw him off.

"What are you doing, Naruto, don't just stand there, Sakura said to cover her, didn't she" said Sasuke, he took hold of his Kusanagi no Tsurugi, then unsheathed it rapidly.

"Chidori Senbon" thousands of electric senbons shot at the army of clones.

"Heh, I won't lose to that" said Naruto, he formed a handseal "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

"Everyone, Make sure to protect Sakura-chan" said Naruto.

Then he got a few hundred replies.

"Hm, that's an impressive number of clones" said Itachi.

"Hmph, Naruto has improved his ability to control the amount of clones he can make, this is nothing compared to his full ability" said Jiraiya.

"As expected of Jiraiya-sama" said Itachi.

"I can say the same for you, Sasuke's improved in both speed and combat skills" said Jiraiya.

"You haven't seen anything yet" said Itachi.

Sakura's eyes shot open in the middle of war between the clones and Sasuke.

"Naruto, Sasuke, stand back for awhile" said Sakura, as she formed some hand seals.

They two boys immediately obeyed her.

"Doton, Kitei Gekihatsu (Earth Style, Ground Outburst)" Sakura slammed her palm onto the ground.

The ground around them shot up in spikes, impaling all of the clones, except for one, that was jumping back in escape, Kakashi had his sharingan uncovered.

"Now!" said Sakura.

The two had already known this would happen and got ready in place, they charged straight for Kakashi.

Kakashi had no choice but to counter their attack, he clawed his hand downwards, it lit up in sparks, a strong stream of electric chakra emitted from it.

The three charged at each other, when their attacks collided, a blinding flash occurred, Kakashi's eyes widened in panic.

After the flash, there was an explosion, the three of them shot out of the smoke, unharmed.

"My my, that was dangerous" said Kakashi, panting 'If I had held back even a little, I might not be able to use my arm for awhile' thought Kakashi.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other, shoulders heaving up and down

"Hehe, Kakashi-sensei… are you missing something?" said Naruto.

"Huh?" Kakashi was blur for a moment, then it hit him "Ah!" he looked down at his side, the bells were gone.

"So it was during that time…." Said Kakashi.

_Flashback…._

_During the flash, Kakashi was too occupied in releasing as much amount of chakra as he could to counter their attacks, but he didn't notice that before the explosion, Sakura waited for the right timing to cut the bells loose with her Fuuton, though it's not a real full technique, she managed to send a wave strong enough to cut the string._

_After the explosion, the bells flew into the air, giving his students a chance to grab it._

_End of Flashback…._

Kakashi softened his eyes and pulled the forehead protector down to cover his eye.

"Alright….. you guys won, looks like Sakura will have to be the one tied to the pole" said Kakashi.

Sakura walked up behind them, clapping her hands "As I thought, You both are still as amazing as always" said Sakura, smiling.

They turned their body halfway to look at her, then they both turned around at the same time and walked to her.

Sakura looked at them in question.

They took her hand and placed the bells in both her hands separately.

"What are you guys doing?" said Sakura.

"You deserve this more than us" said Sasuke.

"Yeah! If Sakura-chan hadn't gave us directions, who knows what we'll be doing right now" said Naruto.

"Gave you directions?" said Kakashi.

They turned to him "Yeah, Sakura-chan slipped a leaf that contained her chakra into my pocket while I was hiding" said Naruto.

"I stepped on her kunai" said Sasuke.

"So the one that really improved was Sakura" said Kakashi, teasingly.

"If they didn't improve, I doubt they would be able to follow my directions" said Sakura.

"I know, I'll miss making fun of you three genin" said Kakashi.

A vein popped up on Naruto and Sasuke's head. 'So he was making fun of us after all this time….' They thought.

"Matte, genin?" said Naruto.

"Yeah, Sakura didn't take the chuunin exams" said Kakashi.

"Why" said Sasuke.

"Cause if I did, I wouldn't be able to do missions with you guys when you came back" said Sakura.

"Sakura-chan…."

"Oh yeah….. Gaara-kun is the Kazekage of Sunagakure" said Sakura.

"What?" said Naruto.

"Isn't obvious from the start" said Sasuke.

"He beat Naruto to it" said Kakashi.

"Then I can't lose to him!" said Naruto, enthusiastically.

Meanwhile, as Kakashi ties Naruto and Sasuke against the poles….

Suna was under attack from the Akatsuki, and was in havoc…. Till Gaara, appeared and stood against Deidara.

Deidara lost an arm, Gaara was floating in the air in this Absolute Defense, while the fierce battle was happening above the village, the suna-nin was trying their best to support their Kazekage.

Deidara didn't have much explosive clay left so he decided to execute his specialty, C-3.

Gaara narrowed his eyes at the weird looking bomb, then it fell, the villagers looked confused, Baki was deeply in thought then he gasped.

"Everyone! Retreat!" he shouted

Gaara's eyes widened, he found it out.

Just when the bomb was about to fall and destroy the village, a huge sand shield formed below the bomb, shielding the blast from the village.

"Wow….. look at the size of that shield" said one of the villagers.

"Nothing less from the Kazekage" said another one.

Deidara looked at Gaara's panting figure.

"Katsu…." Said Deidara, with an evil grin

Gaara's turned to the side and his eyes widened, a bomb was flying straight for him, then it exploded, the villagers looked horrified.

But Gaara's absolute defense didn't even faze, Gaara however is already panting heavily, his shoulders heaved up and down, then he noticed something weird that didn't belong in his sand, white spider creatures began climbing out of his sand from the inside.

"Shima-"

"Katsu!"

A loud explosion filled the air.

"Gaara-sama!" some of the villagers cried desperately.

"Gaara!" Kankuro shouted.

Gaara's absolute defense began to fall apart, the sand slowly fell down to the village, Gaara's body was soon appearing out of the sand.

"Well, I guess I better go and retrieve him" said Deidara, his clay creature flew closer and closer to Gaara, just then Gaara's eyes slowly opened, his sand armor was cracking.

Deidara's eyes widened he quickly made his distance.

"How can this be…..!" said Deidara.

Gaara lifted his trembling hand, the villagers looked up at the huge sand shield above them, it began moving away from the village.

"He's moving the sand away from the village so it doesn't get destroyed" a shinobi.

"The Kazekage is great!"

"Hmph, what a pathetic sight, using his last strength to protect others… It would be easier if he'd just let it fall" said Deidara.

Kankuro watched closely at Gaara, who was panting heavily then looked at the moving sand shield.

"Come on, just a little more….. Gaara" said Kankuro.

_Flashback…_

"_Just give it up, Gaara, I don't want to say this, but….. the village only sees you as a weapon of destruction, the higher ups don't think well of you, if you go on and join the regular squads, they'll just be more afraid of you" said Kankuro._

"_I know… But I don't want to give up, that girl….. she's suffered as much as me, but she's never given up, she made friends that help her, she befriended me, knowing that I'm a monster, in hopes of trying to save me from the same solitude she's suffered" said Gaara._

"_Gaara….." said Kankuro._

"_Don't give up just yet, Gaara-kun! If you give up, then it'll really be over!" Sakura's voice rang in his head._

_Gaara repeated those words in his sullen tone "That was what she told me, so I've decided…. I will work hard to become someone the village will look up to, not as a weapon, but as the Kazekage, perhaps one day I can be like her….. Haruno Sakura" finished Gaara._

"_Fine, I get it Gaara" said Kankuro, understandingly._

_End of Flashback_

The sand moved further and further out of the village and finally the sand poured down outside the village.

"What are you doing! Go rescue the Kazekage-sama! Fire!" ordered Baki.

The giant crossbows arrows shot at Deidara.

"Tch….. futile effort…." He muttered as he dodges the arrows, then suddenly they exploded.

"This is going to be harder than I thought….. I'd better not keep Sasori no Danna waiting" said Deidara.

A man with a really big hunched back was waiting at the entrance of the village with knocked out guards everywhere.

"How long does Deidara intend to make me wait….." he said grumpily.

Soon, the village ran out of arrows to shoot.

Deidara's flying clay creature swooped down and carried Gaara away in its tail

"Gaara!" shouted Kankuro.

Kankuro desperately chased after them, but he was stopped by the guards.

"Matte, Kankuro-san, if we charge in like that without a plan, we are sure to fail" said one of the guards.

"But we can't just leave him!" said Kankuro.

"We'll need to confront the elders about this first" said another one of the guards.

Kankuro pushed past the guards and chased after Deidara.

"Kanku-" the man was cut off.

"Let him be, he _is_ his brother after all" said Baki.

"Baki-san…." said the guards, then they nodded.

After a meeting with the elders… they had no choice but request help from Konoha, Gaara had always placed the most trust in that village.

That evening, while Team Kakashi was doing some catching up, Tsunade was looking for a mission for the new Team Kakashi.

"Have you decided a mission for team Kakashi yet, Tsunade-sama" said Shizune.

"Mm….. Since Naruto and Sasuke hasn't been on a mission for 3 years, we should give them something simpler like… ah, how about escorting a VIP to the Land of Rice, a C- rank Mission" said Tsunade.

"E-Eh? Perhaps something easier….. like this" said Shizune, nervously handing Tsunade a file.

Tsunade took a look at it. Then frowned "Walking dogs…? That's an E-rank Mission! Shizune" said Tsunade.

"Y-Yeah, I just figured since the Akatsuki are after Naruto, it'll be safer for him to do missions that doesn't require him to leave the village" said Shizune.

"Which is why Kakashi is going to be with them, not to mention, Sakura too, I believe Team Kakashi is more than capable of handling Naruto" said Tsunade.

"B-But still, Tsunade-sama" said Shizune.

"Enough talk, I've decided" said Tsunade, but before she could hand Shizune the mission file she chose for team Kakashi, a bird flew through the window and landed on the table.

Tsunade noticed it was the fastest messenger kite from Sunagakure, Takamaru. She took out the scroll that it was carrying, and read it, her eyes widened.

"Shizune! Summon Team Kakashi" said Tsunade.

"R-Right!" Shizune answer before dashing out the door.

Team Kakashi was hanging out in the park near the academy.

Sakura was sitting on the swing, Sasuke on the tree branch just above her, Kakashi was leaning against the tree, reading the latest make up tactics book as Naruto was in front of them, explain/performing out his journey.

"Oh, which reminds me, Neji-kun is getting promoted to jounin soon" said Sakura.

"Hee…. Then I'd better work harder now that everyone's gotten stronger" said Naruto.

"I've heard, Sasuke and Neji-kun both graduated at the top of their batch" said Sakura.

"Except Sasuke is a genin and he's already a jounin" mocked Naruto.

"At least I did graduate, unlike you" said Sasuke.

"What's that suppose to mean!" said Naruto.

"Exactly what it sounds like" said Sasuke.

Just then Shizune came running to them in a hurry.

"Shizune-san?" said Sakura.

Shizune was panting then she sucked in "Team Kakashi, The Hokage wishes to see you immediately in her office" said Shizune.

The team looked at each other then nodded before disappearing off, with Shizune. When they reached the office. Tsunade turned her chair to face them

"Team Kakashi….. I'm giving you an S-rank mission" she said it straight forwardly.

"A mission?" said Sakura, in a curious tone, her jade eyes looking at Tsunade, who had a very grave expression.

"An S-rank?" shouted Naruto

Sakura knew something's gone wrong.

"The Kazekage, has been…. Captured" said Tsunade.

Everyone in the room felt a wave of coldness rush over them, Sakura could feel her stomach clench into a fist.

"What? Isn't he the Kazekage, how can he possibly be captured?" sounded Naruto.

"Being able to take down the Kazekage….. his opponent must be something else" said Sasuke

"Gaara-kun… has been….. captured….?" Was all Sakura could manage.

Next Chapter: Kazekage Rescue

"Y-Yeah…. It is a completely new type of poison, we have no knowledge on how to neutralize it"

"I have no choice but to consult with _them_"

"Sakura-chan…. Is really amazing"

"Are all my puppets recovered….?"

"I leave my brother to you…"

* * *

So what did you think of it, did you like it or did you think my writing skills are becoming worst, please review to show me that you're back to read the sequel of my first Naruto fanfic, I wanna see the old readers to assure myself that I can still go on. And for new readers, you might wanna read the previous fanfic so you can understand this more and don't forget to review that one too, hehe. Sorry for the desperate call for reviews, but it just cheers me up.


	2. Kazekage Rescue

**Hello again guys, and happy new year. Hope ya had a great 2010 and be prepared for 2011, Here's a new chapter. Tried to make it more interesting, but I had to use most of the scenes from the original, written by the great and awesome Kishimoto Masashi! So I advise you to skip those parts, I don't want any of you hating me. Disclaimed. Enjoy!**

**

* * *

Kazekage Rescue**

Kankuro was walking through the desert, following Gaara's trail of sand, his eyes narrowed at the piercing ray of the sun, he bend down and took a handful of sand, he knew Gaara's sand was within them, which means he was going the right way.

Sasori stopped in his tracks; Deidara asked him what was the matter.

"We're being followed" said Sasori, he turned around and Kankuro was standing just about 50 meters away, his eyes fixed on Sasori.

"Hee…. Not bad, I didn't notice him at all" said Deidara, smugly.

"You go ahead, Deidara….. I'll handle this" said Sasori, his deep husky voice as distasteful as ever.

"As you wish" said Deidara, he turned and flew away.

Sasori's scorpion tail revealed itself, Kankuro's eyes widened 'That technique…..'

"You're….. Akasuna no Sasori" said Kankuro.

There was silence between them, then Kankuro narrowed his eyes and brought out all three of his puppets, Sanshouo, Kuroari and Karasu.

Kankuro took the first move…. The battle begins

Meanwhile….

Team Kakashi was setting out their journey, all of them replaying what Tsunade said to them in their head….

_Flashback…_

"_Who did it" said Sasuke, keeping his cool._

"_The Akatsuki" said Tsunade._

_Team Kakashi froze._

"_They have finally made their move and they are after the Kazekage's Biju, the One-tailed Shukaku" said Tsunade._

"_You want us to go rescue him right" said Naruto._

"_Precisely, I received a emergency message from Sunagakure not an hour ago, listen, failure is not tolerated, take this chance to strengthen the alliance between Suna and Konoha…. And they can't lose another Kazekage, if they do, their village will be overpowered by many other enemies" said Tsunade._

_They all gave a firm nod, but Sakura barely managed to move her head, her head was occupied with concern._

_Sasuke noticed this and put his hand on her head then ruffled it a little "It'll be alright, so don't make that face" he said, gently._

_Sakura had to look up before their eyes could meet, but when they did, Sasuke quickly looked away and acted normally._

_Shizune protested "But Tsunade-sama, don't you think it's unsafe to send Naruto-kun too, they are the Akatsuki, and they would surely try to capture him too" _

_Tsunade smirked "but now that I've told him, he would surely go even if you stop him" said Tsunade._

_Shizune didn't know what to say, but to just look at Naruto._

"_I'm going… I'm definitely going I'll beat down that bastard" said Naruto._

_Tsunade looked at Shizune, in a victorious way._

"_Then it's settled, Team Kakashi" said Tsunade._

_They stood at attention and answered._

"_Your mission is to travel to Sunagakure and provide assistance to them in any possible way" said Tsunade._

_End of Flashback_

They had left the village early in the morning and they haven't taken a break since then, Sakura's head was filled with concern for Gaara, Is he alright? How did the intruder manage to defeat him? But the one question she kept worrying about was, is he alive…..? Her thoughts drowned her from her surroundings; she spaced out for a moment and lost her footing on a tree branch.

"Ah!"

She couldn't pulled herself together in time.

"Sakura!" "Sakura-chan!"

Sasuke and Naruto turned back immediately.

Sakura landed in a bush, she opened her eyes, Sasuke and Naruto landed next to her fall.

"Sakura, are you alright?" asked Sasuke, concern ringing in his voice.

Sakura hopped off the thorny bush and looked down at herself; there were little cuts and scratches all over her body.

"What happened, Sakura-chan" said Naruto

"I spaced out for a second, I'm fine now" said Sakura, trying to make her tone as reassuring as possible, she continued to walk forward, but she ran straight into Sasuke.

"Ah, gomen…" said Sakura, but the life in her voice doesn't seem to be there, Sasuke looked over to Kakashi.

Kakashi got the message and said "Why don't we take a little break, we've been running for awhile now"

Sakura heard that, eventhough she wanted to get to sunagakure as soon as possible, she knew it was best if they rest, she might have time to clear her head, while the team was resting under trees and talking, Sasuke noticed Sakura straying further and further away from the group.

He walked after her and watched her closely, her actions were spaced out and unsure, she tripped over a root and lost her balance, she found herself falling face forwards, but then there was a blur of white and Sakura was no longer falling, instead she had her face buried in someone's chest, she could hear his beating heart and looked up.

"Sasuke?" she said in a confused tone.

Sasuke was looking down at her crossly "What are you spacing out for" he said.

Sakura looked at him in such an adorable way Sasuke had to quickly balance her up before he lost himself.

He noticed Sakura drifting into her world again; she seemed to be holding something back as she was biting the lower part of the lip. He inhaled deeply then held up a fist and knocked her head lightly. "You can cry you know…" he said plainly.

Sakura was taken by surprise and lost herself she threw her arms around him sobbing into his chest, she clenched Sasuke's white jacket tighter, Sakura knew firsthand how it felt to be capture because you're….. different, her hands trembled as she clutched tighter.

"I can't think straight… I'm angry, but scared. What if he's already….." her voice faded. She was about to pull away when she felt a pair of hands hold her gently.

"Baka….. you're worrying over the Kazekage here, think about it properly" Sasuke whispered into her ear. Sakura just stood stiffly, her eyes shimmered with tears, her chin resting on Sasuke's shoulder, she hugged him back. A few moments later, they let go of each other.

Sakura looked up and Sasuke's lips curved into a smile and then faded almost immediately, he grabbed hold of her hand and dragged her along as he walked.

"You don't wanna keep the others waiting, do you" he said.

At first, Sakura followed hesitantly then she shook off the concern and smiled "You're right…." She spoke.

She held Sasuke's hand too and walked in front of him and took the lead instead of Sasuke.

"I shouldn't worry, he'll be fine" Sakura reassured herself out loud, then she turned her head and gave him a smile "Thank you, Sasuke"

Sasuke was now the one being dragged; he smirked, knowing that he had succeeded, when he returned to the clearing, they were greeted by the team.

"Oh, Sakura, Sasuke, you're finally back" said Kakashi.

Naruto rushed to Sasuke.

"Sasuke! What were you doing with Sakura-chan!" demanded Naruto, shaking the poor Uchiha, demanding answers from him.

"Did you do something perverted to her!" before Sasuke could say anything Naruto seemed to have answered the question himself, in his head.

"I'll kill you!" Naruto shook even harder.

A vein popped up on Sasuke's head "Will….. you… cut it out!" he shouted, he looked like a devil where as Naruto looked like a midget.

Kakashi called out to them "Oi~ If you two don't hurry up and kill yourselves, we're going to leave you"

Then only did they notice that Kakashi and Sakura had gone ahead of them.

"Ah!" shouted Naruto, quickly speeding off to catch up with Sasuke following after him.

In the desert…

Kankuro was lying on the floor, pieces of his puppets scattered on the ground around him, he looked up and saw Sasori looking down on him.

"Did you think you could defeat me with my own puppets? How naïve" said Sasori.

Kankuro clenched his teeth and tried to get up, but he couldn't.

"The harder you struggle, the faster the poison will spread throughout your body, if you lay still like that, you'll last at least 3 days" said Sasori, he turned and then walked off, but it looked more like a slug, gliding on the sand.

Kankuro's vision was fading just as Sasori was disappearing into the heat, and finally he was unconscious.

A few hours later, the trackers from Suna had found Kankuro lying unconscious in the middle of the desert and immediately brought him back to the village for treatment, once they reached the village, the captain of the tracker squad reported to the higher ups while the rest brought Kankuro to the hospital.

"Begin the operation immediately!" ordered a surgeon.

One of the higher ups hammered his hand on the table "This isn't the time to think about appointing a new Kazekage!"

"Keeping the village safe should be our top priority, we have to take in the account of the worst scenario" argued another one of them.

"We should think about how we're going to rescue the Kazekage-sama!"

Baki was keeping silent with his head down, deep in thought 'Gaara…Kankuro…'

The meeting was dismissed, Baki was discussing about how they're going to save the kazekage with one of the higher ups when suddenly the captain tracker barged in "Baki-san!"

Baki and the other man turned towards the captain "What is it"

"We've found Kankuro-san, sir" he reported.

"And? How is he" said Baki.

"W-Well….. He's unconscious, he's being treated at the hospital right now" said the captain.

"U-Unconsious….?" Said Baki.

Meanwhile, Team Kakashi were on their way to Sunagakure when Sakura stopped, the whole team stopped too.

"What is it, Sakura" said Kakashi.

"There's someone up ahead" said Sakura.

"Is it someone we know?" said Sasuke.

Sakura tried to make out who it was, this chakra seemed very familiar but she must've forgotten who it belonged to, she thought more deeply a thought past through her mind.

"_Kamaitaichi no Jutsu" _

_Flash_

"_Genkiri" "Gyaku Bijon" _

_Flash _

"_Daikamaitachi no Jutsu" _

Then it hit Sakura, "It's Temari-san" she blurted out before running ahead.

"But why is she doing out her" said Sasuke, jumping off after her along with the others. As Sakura shot out of the trees suddenly she found a kunai being thrown at her, she instinctively countered it and when she landed, Temari was holding a kunai at her neck, and she was doing the same.

"Sakura-san?" said Temari, with a shocked expression.

"Oh, it really is you, Temari-san" said Sakura, she thought she had mistaken someone else's chakra for Temari's when she had a kunai thrown at her.

Both kunoichi lowered their kunai.

The rest came down and joined Sakura.

"Oh, it's the Fan-girl" said Naruto.

Temari hit him on the head with her fan "It's Te-ma-ri, you idiot" she said through her teeth.

"Are you on a mission?" said Naruto.

"I just finished a mission in konoha, I'm heading back to my village right now" said Temari.

"I heard she was recently working with Shikamaru on the chuunin exams" stated Sakura.

"I was, are you Guys headed for Suna too? Has something happened?" Temari asked, a bit of concern in her voice.

The team's expression immediately changed, Sakura stepped forward and gave Temari a worried look before she explained.

_Back at Sunagakure._

_The doctor lead Baki into Kankuro's room, who was panting heavily, his wounds all wrapped up but cold beads of sweat clung onto the side of his pale face, he looked like his was suffering a great deal of pain._

"_His injuries are nothing serious, the real problem now is-"_

"_The poison" Baki completed the sentence._

"_Y-Yeah…. It's a completely new type of poison, we have no knowledge on how to neutralize it" said the medic, frustrated at being unable to do anything for his fellow villager._

'_First Gaara….. now Kankuro….' Thought Baki as he clenched his fist. His expression was grave and angered. Worried for both his former students._

"Eh..?" Temari turned pale as Sakura broke the news to her "Gaara has been….?"

Sakura nodded, Kakashi stepped in.

"It'll take us two days to get to the village, let's move down" he said.

Temari and Sakura nodded then jumped off with the rest of the team, they continued the journey till nightfall. Naruto was ahead of everyone else, desperate to save Gaara.

"Naruto, you'd better stay close to everyone else, the Akatsuki are after you, you know" said Sakura

"I can't" said Naruto.

"I understand that you want to save the Kazekage sooner but you've gotta remember-" Kakashi was cut off.

"I know that!" Naruto said loudly.

Everyone perked up.

"I know that…." He said it softer now, his expression lies in between desperate and worried. "Gaara that bastard, he's worked so hard to become the Kazekage, to finally gain the respect from everyone….. he and I are the same, we both have monsters sealed up inside of us…. But he. He endured some much longer than I did, I had the Sandaime Hokage, Iruka-sensei…. Sasuke… he had no one. We're both the same, so why does all the bad things happen to him?" Naruto was trembling whether it was out of anger or sadness remains a mystery.

Sasuke smirked then looked over at Sakura who smiled at him, both of them pushed harder against the tree branch that they stepped on and sped past Naruto.

"Then you'd better keep up, loser" said Sasuke.

"Let's hurry then, Naruto" said Sakura, flashing him smile as she passed him.

Naruto stared blankly at them as they passed, but he eventually caught their intentions and chased after them.

"My, my, what energetic brats" said Kakashi, reluctantly he increased his speed.

'Arigatou…minna (everyone)' thought Temari, touched that everyone cared for her brother, just as much as she does.

_At Suna_

_Baki barged into Kankuro's room, there were two medics attending to him. "Baki-san…" _

"_I heard that Kankuro had regained consciousness" he said, quickly walking to Kankuro's side._

"_Y-Yeah, but he barely said anything to us, his condition had worsened since yesterday" said the elder medic._

_Kankuro broke out into a coughing fit, his face as pale as a ghost. The bags under his eyes were dreadful, his body was cold and it hurts even when he moves a little._

"_Kankuro!" said Baki, in panic._

_Kankuro inhaled deeply."B…Baki, Is that you?" said Kankuro, his voice was forced and very hoarse._

"_Ah.." _

"_It's him…..Ak….a-"Kankuro broke out coughing again. His held his stomach to try and ease the impact that every cough does to his gut._

"_Don't speak….! Your body can't handle it" said Baki, but Kankuro gave him an insisting look and Baki leaned over to hear him better. But as Kankuro spoke into his ear, Baki's eyes widened in panic, he marched out of the room and headed straight for the people that were in charge of the pursuit team, his face was pale as cold sweat rolled down his cheek._

_He barged in on them while they were still researching._

"_Call the pursuit team back immediately!" ordered Baki._

"_Baki-san?" said one of the two men._

"_The pursuit team isn't a match for what they're up against, call them back immediately!" said Baki._

"_E-Even If you say so…. We haven't heard from them since they brought back Kankuro" said the other man._

_Baki looked down "Kh… it's too late for them huh…?" he muttered in an inaudible volume._

"_Is something wrong?" said the first man who spoke._

"_No, nothing at all, I'm going out for awhile" said Baki, he turned around and walked out, closing the door behind him._

'_I have no choice but to consult with them' thought Baki, he heard the man from the intel room called out to him._

"_Baki-san…. There is suppose to be a meeting for superiors this afternoon" said the man._

_Baki turned around, enraged "Do you think I have time to sit around and handing in reports?" _

_The man looked terrified by Baki's reaction._

"_We need to take action! Not hold meetings!" he shouted._

"_Y-Yes sir!" the man straightened in attention._

_Baki turned around and continued walking 'I'll need the advice from the siblings….' His eyebrows creased 'I just hope they're willing to help….' _

Sakura was slowing down compared to her other two teammates, they had been running all night, and it's already noon, meaning they have been running for more than 24 hours.

They had been running on soldier pills and food pills.

Sakura was panting, but Naruto and Sasuke were pretty much fine, Sakura noticed the fatigue running over her body, her stamina was the worst among her teammates, but she didn't wanna slow them down, she reached into her pouch and took out a pill.

"Oi oi, Sakura, soldier pills are for emergency only, besides a lady shouldn't-" but Kakashi was cut off when Sakura popped the pill into her mouth and crunched it.

"I'll be fine, Kakashi-sensei" stated Sakura, rather coldly. Probably trying to hide her fatigue from her voice, she inhaled deeply then caught up to the front with her next step.

Kakashi sweatdropped.

'Some people would consider that as sexual harassment, you old fart' thought Temari.

Sasuke and Naruto took in another soldier pill, Sakura squinted her eyes occasionally to try and refocus her eyes, suddenly her vision completely blurred out, Sakura panicked for a moment, and shut her eyes less than a second and everything cleared up, but she was headed straight for a tree, with not enough time react the way she wanted to, she instinctively stopped herself by using her hands to push against the tree, but that caused her to lose her balance and fall.

Sasuke's pupils flew to the corner of his eyes, sensing something was wrong, his teeth crunch down on the pill and with the next step on a random tree branch, he pushed against it, pushing him in the opposite direction of where Naruto was going and shot backwards, he flipped and landed on the ground below Sakura and held out his arms, Sakura landed right into his arms.

She shook her head and looked to see who her savior was.

"Ara? Sasuke, when did you get here" said Sakura, innocently.

Sasuke sweatdropped "Baka…." He muttered and let her down, Sakura stumbled backwards, Sasuke supported her up by placing his hand on her back, he noticed her chest heaving up and down. He looked up to the tree branch that Kakashi landed on.

"Oi Kakashi, let's take a break" he said.

"That seems like the best choice for now" said Kakashi.

Sasuke was sitting on a branch just above Sakura, taking quick glances at her every once in awhile, Kakashi was busy reading the recently released volume of Icha Icha Tactics, which was given to him by Naruto when he returned to the village a few days ago.

Naruto was bragging about his adventures with Jiraiya. Temari was seen doing nothing as she leaned against a tree, drowned in her own thoughts, no matter how loud Naruto was didn't seem to affect her.

_In Sunagakure_

_Baki was walking through a sandstorm in the outskirts of the village, he was headed straight for the home of the retired councilor of Suna._

_Chiyo and Ebizo was sitting across each other with a pool of water in the middle of them, their fishing lines dangling from the poles, Chiyo looked like she was sleeping, but her both wasn't moving. Ebizo had just woken up from a nap and looked at his sister._

"_Nee-san?" he said and waited for a response from his sister "You dead?" the room remained silent._

_Ebizo was starting to think she really died, there was something on her line but she still didn't respond to it._

"_You've got a catch" said Ebizo once more, trying to awaken his most likely dead sister._

_Just when Ebizo least expected, Chiyo suddenly pulled up her catch, chuckling victoriously, "Scared ya, didn't I" _

_Ebizo let out a breath._

_Just then the door opened and there stood Baki, with a firm look on his face and the sandstorm raging wildly behind him._

_After awhile of explanation…._

"_I see….. so the village is in critical situation…." said Chiyo, in her wise and sullen voice._

"_Yes, we're asking help from you, the honoured siblings" said Baki, his voice was almost in a plea._

"_Such foolishness….. We've done our time in the village, we're retired, whatever happens to the village has nothing to do with us" said Chiyo, she sounded angry and firm but her expression never changed._

_Ebizo nodded slowly._

"_I understand, but there's one more thing you might wanna know" said Baki, he leaned over to Chiyo and whispered something into her ear._

_Her eyes widened as her body froze in her position._

_Baki stood up "Please reconsider, we are in desperate need of your help, now please…. excuse me" said Baki, he bowed and left them._

_Ebizo turned from the door to his sister "Nee-san? Is something wrong?" he said. Chiyo blinked and looked towards her brother._

"_Nothing at all" she said._

Sakura's eyelids slowly lifted, she waited a few moments to let her vision materialize, Sasuke shifted his gaze from the sky to Sakura.

"Oh, you're awake" said Sasuke, jumping down.

Sakura massaged her neck then stood up "Gomen, how long did I take up" said Sakura. Sasuke looked up at the sky to check the position of the sun "About 2 hours" he answered.

"Shall we get going then" said Sakura, revived.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and got ready.

"We can't afford to lose any more time, so we're going to keep moving till we reach the village, got it?" said Kakashi.

The team nodded, then jumped off.

_That evening…._

_Chiyo and Ebizo came walking down the hallway, the superiors turned their heads towards them, shocked at their sight._

"_I-Isn't that….. the honored siblings?" _

"_I believe it is….!" _

_They moved aside for them to pass, Chiyo and Ebizo didn't even roll their eyes over to look at them, they walked past them coldly, heading straight for Kankuro's medical room, Baki was watching as the medics work on him when he notice someone's presence, he turned around and greeted them._

"_Oh, we've been expecting your presence, please…. Step inside" said Baki, in his most polite manner. He looked over to the medics._

"_As you all know, this is Chiyo-sama and Ebizo-sama" he said._

_The medics bowed their heads in respect._

_Ebizo bent over to look at Kankuro._

"_And this is?" he asked._

"_Kankuro…. The current Kazekage's older brother" said Baki._

_Chiyo took one look at him, his chest was heaving up and down, he looked like he was having a bad dream, his body, covered in sweat and bandage._

"_You took a blood sample right" said Chiyo, she held out her old and worn hand._

"_Y-Yeah, it's here" the medic handed her a clipboard._

_Chiyo looked at it "I've never seen anything like this" _

"_Yes, we believe it's a new type of poison" concluded one of the medics._

"_He didn't kill him, either means he's very confident in this poison….. or he left him as a challenge for us, that would be just like Sasori…." Said Chiyo._

_Chiyo set up her station and tried different types of antidotes, on the seal, it'll detect when she drops an antidote that'll be effective, but so far she hasn't had any luck._

_Fire shot upwards from the seal "Tch….. this one is also useless huh?" said Chiyo._

"_We've already requested a team of specialist from konoha, all we can do now is wait for their arrival" said Baki._

"_Hmph, relying on other people, the village has grown fat and lazy because of its alliances" said Chiyo, irritated._

"_F-Fat and Lazy? Our alliance have nothing to do with our shinobi-" said Baki._

"_But it can't be helped, it was his fault for losing his cool and pursuing them alone…. A shinobi of all people should've known this better" said Ebizo_

"_And now you're stuck depending on konoha…. Improving your own village's capability should always be top priority, they are them…. We are us. True alliance are nothing more than pipe dreams, at times like this when you really need them, all you get are foot soldiers" said Chiyo_

"_B-But the current Kazekage trusted konoha most at times like this, he kept going on about 'that person'" said Baki._

"_Hm? That person would be?" said Ebizo._

"_We don't know, but konoha is the only choice we have" said Baki._

"_People always put themselves first" said Chiyo._

"_And this boy has less than a day to live…. If konoha are really coming, they better arrive soon" said Ebizo._

_From night till dawn, Chiyo had tried countless of antidotes, but there wasn't one that could neutralize the poison, Chiyo had her two fingers on Kankuro's pulse, she closed her eyes and shook her head._

"_I'm out of ideas now… even me, an expert on poison can't find and antidote…. Sasori has become very skillful" said Chiyo._

"_What should we do" said Baki._

"_Well, there's only one person out there who's better with antidotes than me. Konoha's slug princess, Tsunade-hime…. During the great war, she managed to figure out how I'd make my poison and designed antidote for every one of them, she drove me to the edge of my skills, and now that we're allies with them, your only option is to have her come and have a look at him" said Chiyo._

"_But she's currently their Hokage, she can't leave the village at a moment's notice…. And even if she could, it would take 3 days for her to reach the village" said Baki_

"_Then we're out of time…. Besides I detest that slug-princess" said Chiyo._

The team came to a stop.

"Finally, we're at the desert!" said Naruto, excitedly.

"It's only a matter of time before we reach there" said Sakura.

"Beyond this desert is where Sunagakure lies, I'll be taking lead from here" said Temari.

"We're counting on you" said Kakashi.

Temari nodded.

They were a 3 hours walk from the village when a suddenly sand storm hit them, forcing them to take shelter at a nearby cave.

"Dammit….. we were so close to the village!" cursed Naruto, he sat the opening of the cave, hoping that the sandstorm would subdue at the next second.

"Give it a rest, Naruto, the sandstorm's not going to end no matter how hard you glare at it" said Sasuke, who was sitting with one of his knees propped up and the other stretched out and his arms crossed.

"Shut up! Don't make a fool out of me!" shouted Naruto.

"You don't need me to do that…." Said Sasuke.

Naruto turned away, looking satisfied. It took him a few more moments to figure out Sasuke's words, a vein popped up on his head, he turned and tackled Sasuke.

"What do you mean by that you emotionless bastard!"

"Exactly what it sounds like!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"I'll let you try!"

The two argued as they fought in a ball of smoke, swearing at each other.

"Those two can never give it a rest…." Said Kakashi

Sakura laughed "Really"

_Shizune stepped into Tsunade's office._

"_You called for me? Tsunade-sama" said Shizune, curious about her next task._

"_Yes, I'm sending reinforcements to Sunagakure, Team Kakashi should be reaching the village soon or maybe they're already there but I don't think Team Kakashi alone will be able to handle the problem " said Tsunade._

"_But who are you sending? Most of the elites are off on a mission" said Shizune._

"_Those people should be arriving from their mission soon" said Tsunade._

_Shizune was still confused at who she meant but she felt like she got hit but a hammer when she remembered._

"_Ah! I'll make arrangements immediately!" said Shizune._

_A few minutes later Shizune entered the room, panting for she had been rushing around._

"_They're back, Tsunade-sama" she blurted out._

"_Right, I'll go see them immediately" said Tsunade as she walks out of her office and down the hall, she entered the usual room where she gives out missions._

"_You are going to be given an S-rank" said Tsunade, as she entered._

"_Ah, Tsunade-sama that's wrong room" but Shizune was a little late on the warning._

"_S-Rank? Yay! Finally you acknowledge how strong we are" _

"_S-rank?" _

_Tsunade knew something was wrong. "Who are these children" said Tsunade._

"_There's a mistake, Tsunade-sama, they are this way" said Shizune _

"_Mattaku….what a nuisance" said Tsunade._

_Ebisu breathed "Oh…. It's just a mistake" he said with relief_

_Tsunade went into the right room this time, she inhaled "Team Gai! You're going to be assigned a very important mission" _

"_We will do our best to successfully execute it" said Lee._

"_Team Gai will not fail" said Gai._

"_You are to go to Sunagakure and provide assistance to Team Kakashi in whatever the sand has appointed to them" said Tsunade._

"_Understood" said Neji._

"_So Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun is back" said Lee._

"_Now that you've received your mission, hurry up and get going" said Tsunade._

"_Understood, Tsunade-sama!" said Gai, then he turned to Lee "Let's go, my student" said Gai._

"_Sensei, our goal should be to make it there within half a day" said Lee._

"_As expected from my student! We don't have a second to waste! There will be no break!" said Gai, then racing off with Lee._

"_Stop it you two, it's embarrassing…" groaned Tenten, walking along._

"_Give it a rest, Tenten. There's no use telling them" said Neji, walking with her._

_Eventually they caught up with the bushy brow combo. _

"_Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun has probably gotten stronger" said Lee._

"_No doubt" said Neji._

"_I'd like to duel with them sometime" said Lee._

"_Me too" said Neji._

_Then they heard someone sniffling and sobbing, they looked over to their sensei._

"_You are –sniff- the best students –sniff- a sensei could ever ask for" then he broke out into a sobbing fit._

_Neji and Tenten sweatdropped as Lee sobbed along with his sensei._

Team Kakashi had made it into the village, they were immediately greeted by a suna-nin that Baki sent to inform them of Kankuro's condition.

"Thank god you made it, Kankuro-san's in bad shape" said the man.

"What happened to Kankuro" said Temari, desperately.

"There's no time to waste! Follow me" he said before running off.

They ran to the hospital as fast as possible, as soon as Sakura reached the room, she sprinted to Kankuro's bedside but was taken back when she heard and old lady scream with fury.

"Konoha no Shiroi Kiba (Konoha's White Fang)! How dare you show your face in front of me! Die!" shouted Chiyo with much ferocity for even an old lady.

"Ah, no I'm not-" said Kakashi, but he knew words wasn't going to stop her. "Geh!"

Sasuke and Naruto ran in front their sensei, Sasuke caught Chiyo's punch, Naruto created shadow clones to attack Chiyo, she swung a kick at the clone and it burst into smoke, Naruto shot out of the smoke and tried attacking Chiyo, but she drew back her fist and jumped back, Naruto was heading straight for Sasuke.

"Move it! Sasuke!" said Naruto.

Sasuke just took a step back and Naruto flew back him and collided with the wall, he faced Chiyo once again, and narrowed his eyes.

'This old hag can fight….' He thought "What are your intentions…. Attacking Kakashi like that" said Sasuke.

"This is revenge for my son! Don't interfere!" shouted Chiyo, she charged at Sasuke, who was standing in front of Kakashi.

Sasuke was about to arm himself with a kunai, but an old man jumped in front of him.

"Look closely, Nee-chan. He isn't the Shiroi Kiba, although the resemblance is a quite stunning, and besides shiroi kiba died a long time ago, remember? You got angry and said that you couldn't avenge your son" said Ebizo.

Chiyo looked at Kakashi, who was smiling nervously at her.

"Just kidding, I was just pretending to be senile" said Chiyo, in a disgustingly girly tone.

"Hah?" said Naruto, everyone else just sweatdropped.

Kankuro began coughing viciously and strangling himself, Sakura quickly turned to him and restrained him from hurting himself.

"Let me take a look at him" said Sakura, she took out her mother's hair needle and clipped in between her lips as she twisted her hair into a messy bun then took it out and pushed it through her hair.

"We're counting on you" said Temari.

"Sasuke, Naruto, Sensei. Do you mind if you stepped back a little?" said Sakura, her voice sounded serious and a little worried, she didn't look back at them though.

Sasuke nodded

"S-Sure" said Naruto and walked out with Kakashi.

Sakura's eyebrows creased as she took a look at Kankuro, she pried his eye lid open and clicked her small flash light on, then she checked the insides of his mouth, she put two fingers into it and Kankuro began coughing.

"O-Oi, who are you" said the medics.

Sakura straightened "Konoha's medical-nin" said Sakura, she flashed them a light smile.

With that, even the medics seemed struck by her beauty.

The others waited patiently outside, Chiyo paying close attention to Sakura.

She laid her head on Kankuro's chest, listening to his weak heartbeats, but she could hear something more than heartbeats, like something is infesting inside Kankuro. Sakura straightened "It seems the poison used on him was with refined metal. It's the type that gets into the muscle and destroys the cells" she concluded.

Everyone was taken by surprise from her conclusion, even Chiyo.

"She could tell that much from just a brief examination…..?" said one of the medics.

"Even the type…." Said the other one, they looked at each other.

"May I see the medical charts?" said Sakura.

The medics jumped a little before one of them lifted the clip board.

"It's here, this shows the poison's composition, though it has a few blank spots"

Sakura took it from them "I can fill those in, his heart muscles are being destroyed as we speak, it may cease to beat anytime now. Even if I prepared the antidote now, it could not stop the damage in time" said Sakura

Temari looked devastated by the news "No way…. Isn't there anything we can you?" she said, very much worried for her brother.

Sakura creased her eyebrows "Please gather the ingredients I tell you" said Sakura, in a commanding tone.

"Yes, ma'am"

"There's one way to save him, but…. It requires drastic measures" said Sakura.

The medics rushed around the hospital, obeying Sakura's every command, once they got it ready, Sakura was ready to begin operating.

"Could you hold him down, it's very delicate procedure and it might not feel good" said Sakura.

They obeyed and held Kankuro down on the bed, Temari over his head, holding him down on the shoulders.

Sakura turned to the bucket of liquid they prepared, she inhaled and closed her eyes for a second and placed her hand, gently on the substance, she lifted it and the substance stuck onto her hand like a bubble. She placed it on Kankuro's chest, but once it connected, Kankuro shot up from the bed and struggled viciously.

They seemed to have lost control over him, but then someone grabbed his shoulders from behind and slammed him onto the bed, Sakura turned to look at the person.

"Sasuke…"

"Make sure to do it right, Sakura" said Sasuke.

Sakura felt less tense and smiled a little, then nodded, she lowered her hand and placed the bubble onto Kankuro's chest once again, her other hand on the other side of Kankuro's chest. Kankuro began to yell and struggle but this time, they made sure to hold him down properly.

Sakura narrowed her eyes. 'Insert Chakra into his body….' She thought as the bubble dissolved into Kankuro's body.

It surrounded Kankuro's heart on the inside.

'Draw the poison out of the cells….'

Purple sinister looking liquid grew from his heart.

'Absorb them into the ball….' She closed her eyes for a few moments before they shot back open.

'Pull them out…!'

She lifted her other hand that was on the further side of Kankuro's chest, the liquid that she inserted began to seep out of Kankuro's skin along with the poison.

Everyone looked impressed with her technique. Once the poison was out, Sakura let go of the liquid back in to the bucket, she breathed out.

"Next" she commanded.

Sakura repeated the process.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Kakashi was waiting outside with Chiyo and Ebizo. Naruto spoke "Ne, Kakashi-sensei… Who was this Konoha no Shiroi Kiba that this grandma spoke of"

"Who you asked….? Mmm…. I think he's best be describe as" Kakashi paused and looked up for a while "my father".

Chiyo's eyes widened immediately, her finger trembling as she pointed it at Kakashi.

"Y-You're White Fang's son?"

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head.

Ebizo nodded "No wonder…You're a splitting image of him…" he said.

Kakashi chuckled nervously, unknown whether its due to flattery or unsureness.

Sakura had repeated the procedure for over 6 times all over Kankuro's body, and finally she let out a sigh "I've removed most of the poison…. His life is no longer in danger" she said happily.

The medics let out a sigh in relief as they let go of Kankuro.

She smiled as the medics praised her.

Naruto walked in and stood next to Sasuke, both of them eyeing their kunoichi teammate with admiration.

"Sakura-chan… Is really amazing" said Naruto.

Sasuke found himself agreeing with him.

Temari took a few steps back and leaned against the wall for support, she slid down to the ground and breathed nervously as she had almost lost her brother.

Sakura turned to her "We can't relax yet, there's still traces of the poison in his system, We'll need to make an antidote"

"Understood, if there's anything you need, just name it. We'll provide it" said Baki.

"Then may I ask if there is any medical herbs in the village?" said Sakura.

"Yes we do" answered a medic.

"Good, can you remove the bandages?" said Sakura.

"Will do"

"Oh and prepare an IV drip"

"Yes ma'am"

"And save some of that poison, I'll need it later"

'Sakura-chan…. You're so cool….' Thought Naruto.

'Not bad' thought Sasuke.

Sakura pulled out her hair needle and let her soft pink hair cascade down her back, some rolling down her shoulders, she shook her head a little.

Sasuke and Naruto felt a rush of warmth as they laid eyes on her.

"You're just like that slug-girl"

Sakura's pupils rolled to the side of her eyes as she looked at Chiyo.

"I'd never thought they'd send a woman like you to help us" said Chiyo.

Sakura turned to her and smiled brightly "Soka, Tsunade-sama is actually my master, we're are here on her orders" said Sakura, when she turned to her two teammates, Naruto looked stunned, his face all red and out of this world. Sasuke had covered the lower part of his face, his eyes trying their best to avoid eye contact with Sakura.

The medics approached her "Here is a list of the medical herbs" handing her a piece of paper.

"Arigatou…"

Chiyo and Ebizo stared at her.

"Nee-chan…. Times are changing, slowly but surely" said Ebizo.

Chiyo smirked and her eyes sparkled with interest.

Naruto and Sasuke exited the room, Kakashi was outside with Baki.

"Baki-sama, there's a reply from Konoha's Hokage" said one of the decoders.

"Thanks" Baki took the scroll from them, he unrolled it and glanced at it before handing it to Kakashi.

"A message from the Hokage"

Kakashi took it and read it.

"What did Tsunade baa-chan say" said Naruto, impatiently.

"She sent Gai's team her for reinforcements" said Kakashi.

"Bushy-brow Sensei's team?" said Naruto, his lips twisted into a smile "I bet everyone's gotten stronger"

"Neji's already a jounin" said Sasuke.

"Alright! We don't have time to slack off! Let's go after the akatsuki right now" said Naruto, he was running after the door.

"Even if you say that, do you know where they are?" said Kakashi.

Naruto paused "I don't….." he said reluctantly.

"Loser"

"What did you say you bastard! Wanna fight?" said Naruto.

"I'll take you on anytime" said Sasuke, aligning his eyes with Naruto's, sparks shot out of their eyes.

Kakashi ignored his student's squabble and turned to Baki.

"How are you tracking the Akatsuki?" asked Kakashi.

Baki turned over to Kankuro "Kankuro went out alone and ended up like, the pursuit squad we sent never came back, judging by the situation…. They're already….. Also, One of the village superiors are missing. I'd like to think he wasn't taken down so easily" said Baki.

"So basically…. You've completely lost track of them" said Kakashi.

"Yeah…. Unfortunately" said Baki, bitterly.

"Baki-sama!" the medics in Kankuro's room called, Naruto and Sasuke stopped fighting, but Naruto was still pulling on Sasuke's cheek and Sasuke was trying Naruto away on the forehead.

"Kankuro has regained consciousness"

They quickly entered the room as Kankuro slowly opened his eyes, his pupils explored the room then they fell on Temari.

"Huh? You're back already? Temari" said Kankuro.

"Ee…. I heard that the village was in danger" she said.

"Sorry…. For making you worry" said Kankuro.

"Idiot…. Don't say unnecessary things" said Temari.

"Baki-san, please take me to where Kankuro-kun fought" said Kakashi. Baki looked at Kakashi in question "I may not look it, but I am pro at tracking, if I can get a hold of their scent-" said Kakashi.

"There's no need for that" Kankuro cut in, forcing himself to sit up "all my puppets…. Have been recovered right….?"

Meanwhile….

Sakura was in the greenhouse, creating the antidote.

"I'd never thought that Sunagakure would have so many medical herbs" said Sakura, sounding satisfied.

"We do, but it's rather difficult to grow them in a greenhouse" said a medic.

"Especially tomoshiri grass… we have very little of that" said the other medic.

"Not at all, this is plenty, enough for three anti venom shots" said Sakura.

Kankuro was twitching all over, his expression still hasn't recovered since the operation, but he endured it for now.

"There were two guys….. one of them has Gaara, all you need is Gaara's scent and incase they split up, I cut off a piece of mask from the other guy and held it in Karasu's hand" said Kankuro, he pointed his finger at his puppet's beaten up hand and it opened up, revealing a piece of clothing.

"Hee… still putting up a fight even when you're down. Nothing less from a Sand Shinobi" said Kakashi, examining the fabric.

Kankuro managed a weak grin, then his pain started acting up, he winced in pain and held his side, trembling.

"Kankuro, are you alright?" asked his sister, her eyes filled with concern. But Kankuro wasn't looking at her, he was staring straight at Naruto and Sasuke. Temari noticed his gaze and turned to them too "Ah, they came all the way from konoha just for us" said Temari.

"You two….. Uchiha Sasuke and….Uzumaki Naruto. Haruno Sakura's teammates…huh?" said Kankuro.

Sasuke just rolled his eyes over at him, looking at him with no feeling. He thought probably that was Sasuke's way of saying hi. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto answered him with a "Hey"

Kankuro closed his eyes. "I see….." (Ironic isn't it, he closed his eyes and said 'I see')

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu"

There was a burst of smoke in the far side of the room and eight cool looking hounds appeared out of the smoke.

"The eight ninja hounds has arrived" said Pakkun.

"Pakkun!" said Naruto.

"Oh, Isn't that Naruto? Long time no see, Sasuke too" said Pakkun.

"Looks like you haven't changed at all" said Sasuke.

"You both too" said Pakkun.

"Eh? We have, look. We're a lot taller now" said Naruto.

"Yeah, Yeah, let's end the conversation here, I'll need you to work now" said Kakashi, holding a piece of fabric above one of the hounds noses which caused him to sniff at it impatiently. Soon the whole pack was taking in the scent of the fabric.

"Find out where they're headed" Kakashi withdrew his hand and with one command, "Go" and all the dogs were off in a flash, except for Pakkun.

"We'll get in contact with you once we find out" said Pakkun.

"Alright! We'll leave as soon as Pakkun gets back" said Naruto, excitedly.

"Shut up for a while, Naruto" said Sasuke, noticing Chiyo and Ebizo approaching Kankuro. But Naruto, thinking that Sasuke just wanted him to shut up for his own selfish reasons got angry and opened his mouth to protest but Sasuke punch him in the face with the back of his hand as Naruto is just next to him, that'll keep Naruto quiet for a while before he goes on a rampage.

"Kankuro…" began Chiyo.

"Chiyo baa-sama, Ebizo jii-sama" said Kankuro.

"I want to hear it from you once again….. there's no mistake that one of the opponents is Sasori, correct?" said Chiyo.

Kankuro looked depressed once she mentioned that name.

"Was he, Kankuro?" said Ebizo, pushing him once more.

"Yeah…." Kankuro replied bitterly "He said it himself that he was Akasuna no Sasori" said Kankuro.

"Akasuna no Sasori right? It seems I may be able to ask a few questions about the akatsuki from you, I'm counting on you" said Kakashi.

Sakura was trying out the anti-venom serum on Sasori's poison, she dropped the substance on the poison, for a moment the medics thought they had failed but Sakura didn't doubt her work one bit and then the poison started to burn away. Sakura smiled "We did it". The medics looked impressed with her.

They brought it to the hospital for Kankuro to drink it, by that time it was already evening, Kankuro reluctantly drank the serum, as Sakura held the cup up for him to gulp it down, during the process he hands looked like they wanted to stop Sakura from pouring the substance down his throat but he knew it was for his own good, and controlled himself. Even so, Sasuke had his eyes fixed at Kankuro, preparing for anything that he might do to Sakura, but nothing happened so he loosened his guard.

Kankuro sat back and started coughing, probably because of the distasteful medicine, Sakura knew it didn't taste good, even just by looking at him.

"Just rest till the trembling stops" said Sakura.

"You all should call it a day too, we have prepared rooms for you" said Baki.

"But, we have to go after Gaara as soon as possible" said Naruto.

"We'll accept the offer gratefully" said Sakura.

"But Sakura-chan" protested Naruto.

"Being impatient won't bring Gaara-kun back, it's best to leave it to Pakkun and the others" said Sakura, but in reality she really wanted to run around and search for Gaara. Kankuro could see it in her eyes.

"Besides, you'll need your rest if you don't wanna slow us down, idiot" said Sasuke.

Naruto fumed "That should be my line you bastard!" shouted Naruto.

Kankuro was touched by how much they cared for his brother and remembered the time Gaara had talked to him about joining the regular squads, Gaara's words hasn't faded from his memory, they were as clear as if it was only yesterday that Gaara was still thinking of joining the regular squads.

"Haruno…. Sakura" he paused, everyone looked at him, Sakura looked at him innocently, but at the same time, curious.

"I leave my brother to you…." he said.

Everyone, especially Temari, seemed taken aback by this. Sakura's lips softened into a smile "Mm! I'll definitely bring him back" said Sakura.

Naruto gave his signature cheesy grin "The Kazekage's gonna owe us for this"

Sasuke and Kakashi smirked, though Kakashi's wasn't visible.

"Wait a minute, How did you know I sent Pakkun and the others, Sakura" said Kakashi.

"All these years, Tsunade-sama had put me through rigorous chakra control training, I guess it must've automatically widened my range of sensory, now there's no a chakra within 50 kilometers I can't find" explained Sakura.

"You're pretty awesome, Sakura-chan" said Naruto.

"You think so?" said Sakura rubbing the back of her hair, flattered.

'This girl… could she be the one that Gaara's been talking about…..?' thought Baki.

Next Chapter: Sacrifice to Save

"Sorry we're late"

"I must commend you for being able to create an antidote for my poison"

"Let go of Gaara! You bastard!"

"We're too late….."

"I've lived long enough"

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So what did you think? What is as bad as I thought? Or as good as you described. I wanna know, in your reviews. Some of your reviews really made my day, I love them. Thanks for your encouraging words. Really, really. Thank you. and I bet you're disappointed cause there's not much action in this one, but it would be too long if I wrote everything in one chapter, but I promise the Sakura and Sasori fight will be in the next chapter. So please be bear with me.**

Reviewers I liked/loved 

XxRoseLoverxX

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	3. Sacrifice to Save

**Disclaimer: Not mine**

**Hey guys, I'm sorry to make you wait a million years for this. But I was busy these three weeks? I went to Japan on the second week after the latest chapter was posted and I just came back today. So please forgive me. I hope some of you are still willing to read this. Enjoy**

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Sacrifice to Save**

Even though Sakura said they'll rest in the rooms prepared by the village, she couldn't sleep at night, she tossed and turned around on her bed, she just felt so full of energy she didn't know what to do with it. The others would probably wake up if she kept shifting in her bed, she decided to face the ceiling and try to sleep. But once she closed her eyes, her hearing seemed to have automatically sharpened, Naruto's snore became unusually loud, she could even hear Sasuke and Kakashi's light breathing. There was crickets, and the soft wind. There was even a flapping sounds of a bird. Soon the sounds of the night were overwhelming her

Sakura shot up from her blankets, how could the silent night be so….. Unsilent! "It's no good….. I can't sleep" breathed Sakura, her voice was soft, no one else would probably be able to hear her, till she heard a voice.

"Can't sleep, huh"

Sakura quickly turned to her right, where Sasuke's bed lies. He bed was between Naruto and Sasuke's. Kakashi's was closes to the window. She jumped a little at the voice, she thought she was alone, till she heard his voice.

"Ah, sorry. Did I wake you?" whispered Sakura, so she doesn't wake up the rest.

Sasuke pushed himself to sit up on the bed, he rubbed his eyes in a child like manner, Sakura couldn't help but to speak her heart "So Cute" she squealed "You're just like a child, Sasuke"

Sasuke paused to replay what Sakura just said, in his head. His face exploded red, but he didn't dare move, incase Sakura notices his blushing face. Sakura too was a little slow at noticing what she just said too, there was an awkward silence between then, Sakura blushed a little "A-Ah! I didn't mean that in an unmanly way. J-Just…. Saying that you're like… a child" said Sakura, her voice slowly fading as she buried the lower part of her face deeper and deeper into her pillow.

Sasuke pulled himself together, "R-Right" was all he could manage, anymore and his voice would crack and give away his composure, which he is having a hard time holding. Sakura wasn't helping with her adorable look as she holds onto her pillow.

Sasuke flopped back down onto his pillow and threw the blanket over his head, covering his whole body, his back was facing her "A-anyway, just go to sleep for now" he said quickly.

"Are you feeling well? Sasuke" said Sakura, worriedly looking at his hidden body.

"I'm fine, just go to sleep" said Sasuke, his voice was muffled under the blankets.

"You don't sound like it" said Sakura, he heard her step off her bed and walk to his side and he tightened his hold on his blanket , to make sure she couldn't pull it off to check on him. Sakura tugged on his blanket but it wouldn't budge.

"Come on Sasuke, let go of the blanket. I gotta make sure you're real okay" said Sakura, she sounded worried but at the same time convincing.

Sakura tugged on it harder but Sasuke wouldn't give in, they struggled in a tug of war at first, then Sakura got fed up and used a sudden extra boost of strength that caught Sasuke off guard, Sakura managed to get it off him, but Sasuke was still holding onto the blanket, he quickly pulled it back…. along with Sakura?

It seemed like Sakura was still holding onto the blanket as Sasuke pulled it back and it pulled her onto the bed. The kunoichi laid on top of Sasuke their faces were only a few inches apart, yet none of them moved nor spoke.

Sasuke turned every shade of red that's known to mankind, Sakura on the other hand was just starring innocently into his onyx eyes, both her hands was supporting her up, she removed one of them and placed it on Sasuke's forehead.

"Sasuke…? Sasuke? Y-You're burning up!" said Sakura, panicking.

Sasuke shook himself a little and suppressed his hormonal urges, Sakura blushed a little "Sasuke, you can let go of me now…." She said softly.

Sasuke looked at what his hands were doing, they were holding onto Sakura's waist. Somehow, he didn't remember making his hands do that. He immediately broke contact, withdrawing his hand like it burned (Maybe Sakura was just too hot for him to handle, Ok scratch that, like… now).

Sakura slid off him and Sasuke sat up "I…. erm…. Sorry…. About that…. That is…." Stuttered Sasuke, he rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes rolled from corner to corner, avoiding Sakura's tantalizing orbs.

"You don't look very well, Sasuke. Are you getting lack of oxygen" said Sakura, putting her face up close to Sasuke, sweat began to rolling rapidly down his face.

'Of course I'm getting lack of oxygen when you're this close…..!' thought Sasuke.

"I'd better give you a check up, just to be sure" said Sakura, just when she was about to touch his forehead, Sasuke grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"I'm fine, really" assured Sasuke.

"Mmm….. if you say so" said Sakura, she reluctantly flopped back down onto her bed and try to sleep again.

Sasuke let out a breath and crashed down onto his pillow, his heart still racing, his head was flooded with thoughts of Sakura, he smacked himself on the forehead he then ripped it off, hoping that the images of her would get out of his mind, but he failed rather miserably.

'Why are women so difficult….. this is probably what Shikamaru feels like…..' thought Sasuke, as he sighed and rolled over on his bed and faced Sakura's bed.

'_Ne Ne, Sasuke. How much do you think I've grown?' said Sakura, her eyes closed in a smile, her hands held together behind her and she leaned forward a little._

That memory flashed in his head, it was before they were sent to the mission, Sakura and Sasuke was talking in the lake.

Sasuke's eyes widened and immediately turned away from Sakura's bed and clasped both his hands on his face.

'I won't be able to sleep…..' he thought miserably.

Early next morning, Pakkun shot out of the window and onto Kakashi's empty bed.

"You found out where's the akatsuki?"

Pakkun turned towards the voice, Kakashi was leaning against the wall, looking at his sleeping students. Pakkun gave a smile.

"They're so much more cuter when they're like this" said Kakashi, he sighed inwardly and turned Pakkun "So, what did you find"

"H-Ha….." Pakkun began

Sakura could hear faint voices as she slowly opened her eyes "So we're somewhere here and their hide out is a little further after we've crossed the desert" said a voice that sounded like Kakashi.

"Well, you'll know the place once you see it, it's not that hard to find. Sakura-chan is there too, she'll be able to sense it once she's within a 30 kilometer range, no matter how hard they try to hide a jinchuuriki's chakra, they can't hide it completely." Said Pakkun.

"Yeah, you're probably right" said Kakashi.

Sakura threw her blanket off.

"You found out where they're hiding? Pakkun" said Sakura, she stumbled out of bed and jumped over Naruto's bed to Kakashi's bed.

"Ah... we'll need to get moving immediately" said Kakashi. Sakura turned around to wake her teammates, but when she turned around, they were already standing behind her.

"Lets get going" said Naruto, taking off his dog head sleeping hat.

"You're still wearing at to sleep? What a loser" said Sasuke.

"Huh? You wanna fight early in the morning?" challenged Naruto, but before Sasuke could respond, Sakura jumped in between them "Stop it now, you two" she scolded them.

They immediately cut it out.

Kakashi reported to Baki and the other superiors.

"Are you sure?" said Temari

"Yes, it had just been confirmed….. the team from Konoha will be departing soon" said the chuunin that reported to Temari, they were talking outside of Kankuro's room. Kankuro curiously looked out his door, though he couldn't see Temari, he tried to listen to their conversation.

"I understand, I'll be making a few arrangements, I'll be going too" said Temari.

"Yes" and the chuunin ran off once again.

Temari watched till Kankuro called out her name, she rushed inside immediately. Kankuro was pushing himself up.

"Kankuro, don't force yourself. You just go back to sleep. I'll definitely bring Gaara back" said Temari.

They looked at each other for a moment, before they both broke into grinning.

Team Kakashi was gather at the village's entrance "Right, after the sand has made their preparations. We'll be leaving with them to save Gaara" said Kakashi.

"Alright!" said Naruto, excitedly.

"Sorry for the wait" said a familiar voice.

They turned to Temari, there was a whole squadron behind her.

"Shall we get going then" said Sakura, she smiled.

The girl that was behind the right side of Temari, she eyed Sakura in curiousity.

"You are..." but before she could complete her sentence, Baki jumped down outta nowhere.

"Wait!"

They turned to him, Baki looked at Kakashi, then he nodded "Temari, you and your team are to remain here on border patrol duty" said Baki.

"Don't joke with me!" snapped Temari.

"It's orders from our superiors, if word gets out that the Kazekage-sama is captured, the other villages will try and attack the village" said Baki.

"But these people from Konoha came all the way here for us, and you expect us to sit here and wait? Gaara is _our_ Kazekage. They have to send someone from the sand" said Temari.

"But…." Baki said, hesitantly.

"I'll go" came a voice from a rooftop.

Everyone's attention was directed to the old lady on the roof. There Chiyo stood proudly on the railing as the sun rays shone against her back.

"If you need to send someone from the sand, I, alone shall be more than enough" said Chiyo, a little arrogance in her tone.

"Chiyo baa-sama….!" Said Temari.

"But you can't" said Baki.

Chiyo smirked "Hmph, I'm retired. I can do whatever I want" she said boldly.

"But you shouldn't force yourse-" the girl with paint markings on her cheeks was cut off.

"Don't treat me like an old lady" snapped Chiyo, then she dove down to earth.

"She jumped!" said Naruto.

Chiyo landed right in front of Naruto, who stumbled backwards, due to shock.

"I've been longing to see my cute little grandson for a while now" said Chiyo.

The troops eventually gave in "I'm sorry about this, I'll try to convince the superiors to change their minds" said Baki.

"We'll catch up to you later" said Temari.

"Hah, by the time you get there, We would have already saved Gaara" said Naruto.

"We'll be going now" said Kakashi, they turned and ran off.

Sakura was still looking at the disappointed troop's expression "Don't worry too much, We're strong. We'll definitely save Gaara" said Sakura, smiling.

"Then….. we're counting on you" said Temari.

Just when Sakura was about to catch up with her teammates, someone called out to her.

"Sakura…..san right" said Matsuri.

Sakura turned around "Ara, You're from that time…." Said Sakura. She remembered the mission to rescue Matsuri and it turned out to be a total disaster. Gaara turned into the Shukaku, Naruto and Sasuke was injured badly and Sakura pleaded Gaara to control himself.

"Ee….. It's Matsuri. You were the one who rescued Gaara-sensei from the four celestial warriors right" said Matsuri.

"My teammates were there too" said Sakura.

"Please… save Gaara-sensei. You're our only hope" said Matsuri.

Sakura looked surprised, then smiled "Just leave it to me" then she was off.

She had fallen back pretty far from her teammates, but they purposely slowed down for her, just so she could catch up.

Team Guy was almost to the desert, they haven't stop for a break ever since they left the village "You guys are going too fast….. we've been running non-stop, let's take a break" said Tenten.

"You haven't been training enough, Tenten" said Lee.

Tenten sighed.

"Lee, in front of you" called out Neji.

They stopped as the leaves in front of them shook, a small creature shot out of his and landed on the leaves.

"Wait, Guy "

"Pakkun?" said Guy .

Team Kakashi were travelling in silence, then Sakura spoke "Kakashi-sensei… it's been two and a half years since the akatsuki tried to take Naruto away, why are they back now" said Sakura.

"Well….. it should be because Naruto was with Jiraiya-sama the whole time so they couldn't do anything" said Kakashi.

"No" came a voice behind them.

"The information I was given was different, it takes a lot of preparations to pull the Bijuu out of a jinchuuriki once it's sealed within, so that's why they waited two and a half years, now they are out to gather the rest of the Bijuu" said Chiyo.

"The rest? There are others?" said Sakura.

"You're Tsunade-hime's apprentice and you don't know that? Especially since Konoha has the Kyuubi" said Chiyo.

Everyone tensed up, Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto, who was in front of them, he didn't show any signs of discomfort.

"Well, in Konoha. Everything about the Kyuubi has been kept top secret" said Kakashi.

"I suppose it should be… the Bijuu are mythical chakra beast with tails. The sand has had the Ichibi, Shukaku. Which is currently sealed within the Kazekage, Gaara. The Ichibi has one tail and Niibi has two tails, and up to the Kyuubi. Each one has a name that corresponds to the number of tails they have. The Bijuu are made of essentially enormous amounts of Chakra and during the great war, villages have tried to obtain them and turn them into weapons. But their powers are far beyond the human understanding. They can't be controlled. I don't know why the akatsuki wants with powers but it's too dangerous. I suppose even during peace, times continue to change. The bijuus still exist, scattered across the world" finished Chiyo.

Sakura passed Naruto and took a quick glance at his expression, he looked worried and offended. But that was normal when you've just been indirectly called a weapon monster.

Team Guy was listening as Pakkun explained to them about the location of the Akatsuki.

"Kakashi summoned us eight ninja hounds so that we could track down the location of the akatsuki, and we've discovered that they are in the river country just in between the sand and konoha." Said Pakkun.

"The river country?" said Neji.

"Eh…. Didn't we just pass that place?" said Tenten.

"That's right….. that means that you guys are closer to the Akatsuki than everyone else, Team Kakashi is on their way now" said Pakkun.

"I see…." Said Lee.

"Follow me, I'll explain more on the way" said Pakkun.

"Alright everyone! Let's go!" said/shouted Guy .

"Eh…? Already?" whined Tenten as she reluctantly followed he teammates.

They didn't notice the spy that was watching them from a distance, Zetsu began to fade away to the colour of the tree.

Inside the Akatsuki hideout, "They are enemies closing in on the base, they seem to be fairly powerful" reported Zetsu.

"Enemies?" said Deidara.

"Their leader's name is Might Guy " said Zetsu.

"Who's that" said their leader.

"A skilled Konoha jounin who uses Taijutsu, you'd better not take him lightly, it seems like Team Kakashi is one their way here too" said Zetsu.

"Ahaha! Those bunch of amateurs again" laughed Tobi.

"This will be a problem" said Pain.

"Why, They're still genin right" said Hidan.

"But they shouldn't be taken lightly, that team is full of surprises" said Pain.

"Well someone has to go" said Kakuzu

"Let me do it, I wanna use that technique" said Kisame.

"Indeed that technique will be most suitable for you, considering you have the highest amount of Chakra, Kisame" said Pain.

Kisame grinned "But, I will still need 30 percent of your chakra" said Pain.

Kisame's grin disappeared "Tch….. I guess there's no helping it then" he said reluctantly.

Team Guy was running across a rocky area in a very impressive speed when Pakkun sniffed around.

"What's wrong" said Guy .

"Someone's coming" said Pakkun.

"Byakugan!" Neji searched around with his ability see 360 degrees around him, he couldn't see anything at first.

Everyone was on their guard, anxious, knowing that someone's gonna jump them. But from where? A cold bead of sweat rolled down Lee's face and down to his chin, when it dropped. Neji's eyes widened rapidly.

"Below us! Tenten!" said Neji, he turned to Tenten and tackled her aside, barely dodging the sudden outburst in the ground.

Neji was on top of Tenten, his two hands supporting him up and Tenten's head was between his hands.

"T-Thanks, Neji" said Tenten, nervously.

Neji nodded and got up to face the sword that was sticking out in the ground like the fin of a shark.

"What are you" demanded Guy .

There was an explosion in the ground, everyone made their distance, paying close attention to the smoky area, Neji looked through the smoke with his byakugan, and got a shock.

"T-This guy….." he stuttered.

"What is it, Neji" said Lee.

"He has a ridiculously enormous amount of chakra….! I haven't see so much since Naruto" said Neji.

"That much?" said Tenten.

"So this is the akatsuki" said Neji.

Kisame chuckled then threw Samehada into the air "Suiton, Bakusui Shouha! (Water Style, Exploding Water Shock Wave!)" He sucked in deeply.

Guy widened his legs "Get ready"

Kisame spit out a great amount of water, and it kept increasing till the wave was a few stories higher than the ground Team Guy was standing on. The dry land that they were supposed to be crossing became a small ocean, with a limited amount of footing, Team Guy is at an disadvantage.

Tenten's mouth was gaped open, the words just couldn't escape her mouth.

"What a tremendous amount of water" said Lee.

Kisame caught Samehada when it came back down then grinned "Shall we start then" the huge growing wave came down on the team.

Everyone leaped up into the air, escaping the engulfing wave. Ever since then, Kisame had been coming at them, wave after wave, Team Guy had to fight back somehow.

"How can he create such a great amount of water?" said Tenten.

"He has a tremendous amount of chakra, I've never seen a technique like this…" said Neji.

They waited again for Kisame to attack, the rocking waves were making them uncomfortable. Suddenly, a huge wave rose behind Tenten and Guy .

"Guy -sensei! Tenten!" warned Lee.

They jumped up and let the wave pass under them, but it wasn't just the wave that came against them, Kisame stood ontop the waves, ready to strike.

Guy creased his eyebrows and turned his body sideways and dodged Kisame's slash with Samehada, Guy turned his body against Kisame and landed a kick on his face, just before the kick landed, Kisame smirked then broke into water.

"A water clone….?" Said Guy .

Kisame's real body rose from behind Guy , Samehada came down once again on Guy, but he dodged it again and went behind Guy , Kisame raised Samehada, ready to slam it down on Guy . But someone that looked like a clone of Guy sped behind him.

'Lee!'

Kisame turned his head back to Lee before he found Samehada flying out of his grasp.

"Konoha Shoufuu! (Konoha Rising Gate)" Lee sent and upwards kick on Kisame's hand.

"What?" exclaimed Kisame, the wave sank and Kisame landed with a splash on top the water with Neji right in front of him, with his fingers bent down and his wrists together, he drew back.

"Hakke Kuushou! (Eight Trigrams Air Palm)" Neji thrust his open palms at Kisame, sending him flying backwards due to the chakra impact. His feet was still on the ground, his heels skidding on top the water, Kisame looked up and saw his partner flipping towards him, he raised his hand and caught Samehade then spun it once before a mace was thrown at him, Kisame acted immediately and blocked it off with Samehada, but there was a piece of paper on the spiky metal ball with the Kanji for "Bomb" encrypted on it.

'A trap!' thought Kisame.

There was a loud explosion, the spikes shot out like kunais. Tenten stood on a rock near the explosion "Damn…. He got away" she cursed.

Kisame dove down into the water, Team Guy stood on the calm water, waiting for Kisame's next attack.

"Where will he come out next" said Guy , anxiously.

"Neji, can you see him?" said Tenten.

Neji narrowed his eyes "He's right in front of us, he's coming up"

"We've found him" said Lee.

The top of Kisame's head was rising from the water "You kids are really getting annoying…." He spat. Then lifted Samehada onto his shoulder.

"Not a scratch on him" said Lee.

"Time to start our counter attack, first I'll distract him, then you three hit him with everything you've got" said Guy .

"Understood" said Tenten and Lee.

Kisame grinned "Do you really think I'll leave myself open so easily, Allow me to show you what's wrong with that plan" said Kisame

"He's read our minds!" said Guy .

Tenten and Neji sweatdropped.

"Let's go!" said Guy , charging head on at Kisame, who ran at him too, Samehada's tip in the water, slicing through the top of the waves.

Kisame sliced sidewards at Guy , jumped and dodged it, just then Neji appeared before Kisame and thrusted his palm at Kisame "Jyuuken!" but his attack was neutralized with Kisame blocked it with Samehada. Neji quickly flipped back, allowing Lee to take his place, Lee came at Kisame with his pair of tonfa, But it took just one swing of Samehada and Lee's tonfas was broken.

Lee flipped and landed on a rock above water. He looked down at his weapon before throwing them away.

"I see…. The way he swing that massive sword around so easily is going to make it difficult for us to find an opening" said Lee.

"If close combat isn't going to work….." Tenten unraveled her scroll and smoke exploded from it, paper bombs attached to kunais were shooting straight at Kisame, just before the explosion, Kisame lifted Samehada to block him from the kunais.

"How about this!" said Tenten, confident that it would at least place a scratch on him. But when the smoke cleared, all that was seen was Kisame's annoying smirk, he swung Samehada onto his shoulder.

"Did you do something?" said Kisame.

"Kh… that sword is getting annoying…." Cursed Tenten.

"Ah! That sword!" said Guy .

"You've found it's weakness? Guy -sensei" said Lee.

"That must be your weapon! Isn't it!" said Guy , pointing proudly at Samehada.

"We can tell that just by looking at it…." Said Neji.

"But there's a big difference between think it's your weapon and knowing it's your weapon" said Guy .

"As expected of Guy -sensei. What incredible insight!" said Lee, impressed.

"You just figured that out….? Stop getting hyped up all the time" sighed Tenten.

"Just give it up…. Tenten" said Neji.

"Are you stupid?" said Kisame.

"Now... let's go!" said Guy as he leaped into the air. "Dynamic Action!" and he dove down.

Kisame lifted Samehada to block the kick then pushed against Guy , who jumped back and sped behind him, Kisame's slashes were easily dodged by Guy . Then Guy made his distance, and charged in once again, but before he reached Kisame, he kicked up a wave of water and struck when Kisame less expected, he shot out of the wave and punched Kisame, being unable to react immediately with Samehada, he used his hand to block Guy 's fist.

Guy grinned then pull Kisame in and swung a leg at him, Kisame moved back to dodge the kick, then Guy 's leg wrapped itself around Samehada's hilt, then Guy put his other foot onto Samehada and pushed away. Separating it from its master.

"Do it now!" Guy called out to his student.

Kisame turned to the three student that was coming down on him. He scowled and form a seal.

"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu! (Water Clone Technique)"

Three clones rose from the water and blocked the three shinobi.

"What?" said Neji at the last moment.

Guy frowned and jumped off Samehada, holding in his hand. He charged at Kisame.

Kisame formed more seals "Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison Technique)"

Neji, Lee and Tenten called out in shock as water began to engulf them.

"Shimatta!" called out Guy as he jumped and raised Samehada, ready to slash it down. But a piercing pain shot in his hands, making him drop the great sword. Samehada bounced away from Guy on the water.

Tenten screamed

"Lee, Neji, Tenten!" their sensei shouted.

Kisame chuckled "I'll admit I'm surprised… these kids at more skilled than they look"

'I can't move….' Thought Lee.

'Damn it….' Neji winced an eye.

'can't…. Breath…' the kunoichi clenched her teeth.

"Now…. We can fight without interruptions…" said Kisame as Samehada returned to his possession, by itself.

Guy looked surprised by it.

"My great sword Samehada…. Will only allow me to wield it" said Kisame.

Guy closed his eyes "I see….. so that weapon isn't something anyone can use…. Then I shall use mine!" said Guy , he reached into his backpack and took out a pair of nunchaku.

'Those nunchucks….' Thought Lee.

'that means that the opponent is someone strong…' thought Tenten.

"Ha…." Guy whipped his nunchucks around, demonstrating his ability. Then with the last move, he pulled on both sides of his nunchucks with such force, it caused a small wave on the calm water.

Kisame smirked "Excellent….. –chuckles- this is going to be interesting" said Kisame

Guy and Kisame fought with their weapons each hit caused a small wave to rise, Samehada was raised then it came down on Guy 's nunchucks. This blow was heavy and Guy couldn't help but to sink a little into the water.

'Such superhuman strength…..' he thought, just then air bubbles escaped Tenten's mouth.

'Tenten!' thought Neji and Lee.

'Air….' Thought Tenten, helplessly.

'Looks like Tenten is reaching her limit' thought Guy , at that moment, he was distracted from the match, which Kisame was able to make use off, by punching him down with great force, Guy was plunged into the water, sinking deep.

'Guy -sensei!' Lee struggled.

Kisame formed some handseals "Suiton, Goshoku-zame (Water Style, Five-man eating sharks)" then he put his palm on top of the water as a trail of blue chakra escaped his finger tips and turned into five sharks.

Guy had his back against a rock underwater, he looked down at his stomach where Kisame punched him 'What a powerful punch….'

"First Meal" said Kisame.

A shark suddenly entered his vision, he pushed against the bottom and evaded the attack, the shark destroyed the rock behind Guy instead.

"Second meal" said Kisame.

Another shark rounded Guy and swam at him, but Guy dodged that one too.

"Third meal" said Kisame.

This one was able to catch Guy in between its teeth, Guy used both his legs to prop it's mouth open then landed a punch on its snout, destroying it.

'Did I get it?' thought Guy , but the shark reformed.

"Fourth meal" Kisame smirked.

A shark came from behind Guy and nicked him on the leg, a trail of blood drifted in the water. Guy lost his stance.

"Fifth meal" Kisame said at last.

All the sharks gathered and came down at Guy all at once. Guy punched and kicked them away, but every time he destroys one of them, they always reformed.

"My five sharks will rip you to shreds!" said Kisame, half laughing.

Tenten's body went limp 'I can't hold on….. anymore' she thought as her eyes began to close

'Tenten!' Lee and Neji shouted in their minds.

'This is bad…. She's at her limit' Thought Neji, looking around.

Guy closed his eyes 'Looks like I'm out of time….'he thought and made a cross with his arms.

"Huh? What is he up to…." Kisame muttered.

'Hachimon Tonkou (Eight Celestial Divination Gates) First Gate, Initial Gate…. Release' a vein formed on Guy 's Forehead. Kisame narrowed his eyes.

'Second Gate, Heal Gate…. Release' the veins became thicker.

Kisame knew he had to strike now.

"I won't let you!" he shouted as the five sharks began to dive down towards Guy .

'Third Gate, Life Gate…. Release' Guy turned brown, but the sharks were almost there.

'He won't make it!' thought Lee.

Guy 's eyes shot open, his technique had yet to be completed, but he was out of time. Then there was a spark.

'Chidori Nagashi (Chidori Stream)'

There was an outburst of electricity underwater. Streams of lightning pierced through each of the sharks, the shot upwards at Kisame. Who jumped back to avoid it.

Sasuke shot out of the water, soaking wet as he held his Kusanagi no Tsurugi.

"Uchiha… Sasuke!" said Kisame.

'Now's my chance!' thought Neji, he strengthened his byakugan and looked around in the water prison for a weak spot, and finally found one. 'There!' he clasped his hands together "Hakke Rokujuuyon Shou (Eight Divinations Sixty-Four Strike)" Neji said in the water. "Ha!"

And with that, the sphere was broken. He hit the water clones with his Jyuuken at incredible speed, not giving them a chance to attack, or even move.

Lee was freed, he looked over to free Tenten, but someone had beat both Neji and Lee to it. With just one punch, the water clone was destroyed and Tenten was freed.

"Sakura-san!" said Lee, excitedly.

Sakura smiled at them. Tenten was falling before Neji went over and held her up "Are you alright? Tenten" he said worriedly. He lowered her to her knees as he got on one of his.

Tenten's eyes lifted open "Y-Yeah…. Thanks, Neji" she said, panting for air.

Sakura kneeled down next to them and checked Tenten's pulse "Her pulse is a bit slow, but she'll be alright if she keeps breathing normally" said Sakura.

"Thanks" said Neji.

"Sorry we're late!" said Naruto as he sped past them and headed straight for Kisame. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" his clones joined in on the fight with Sasuke.

Kisame was having a hard time keeping up with Sasuke and Naruto, the water began to turn green.

Neji and Sakura looked at the water "Such tremendous chakra…" breathed Sakura.

"Naruto, we'll have to move" said Sasuke.

Naruto nodded and they both jumped out of the way and Kisame looked down at the water, there was a huge whirlpool from where Guy was standing, he was emitting a chakra force so strong, he was pushing aside the water around him.

"Amazing…" said Sakura.

Kisame leaped into the air to avoid being blasted by water from below, but Guy was fast, he leaped up to Kisame, but just when Samehada was about to touch him, swung a blazing kick at Kisame.

'Too fast' thought Kisame as he was hit with a powerful kick, he was parted from Samehada, Guy sped in front of him again, with a weird stance.

Everyone looked up at him "That stance…." Said Neji.

Lee nodded "This battle is over"

"Asa Kujaku! (Morning Peacock)" Guy landed an impossible number of punches all over Kisame, his punches were so fast, his fists lit on fire, thus setting Kisame on fire too. The last punch sent Kisame pummeling down to earth.

The others watched as the small ocean slowly drained away.

"Looks like it's over" said Kakashi, landing in with Pakkun, who led Team Kakashi here. "Guy's over doing it again I see" Kakashi sighed.

Sakura nodded, Neji was still holding Tenten. Naruto and Sasuke walked over to join them.

"Bushy brow-sensei caught on fire! Did ya see it, Sakura-chan?" said Naruto, waving his hands around.

"Guy-sensei is amazing!" sobbed Lee.

"There's no need to cry for it right….." sighed Tenten.

"Just give it up…. Tenten" said Neji.

"What's the meaning of this?" shouted Guy from the other side of the rocks.

They quickly ran to see. In the middle of the crater, laid, not Kisame. Nor was it a pulverized version of him, it was an unknown man, incapacitated.

Sakura went to check on him "He's no longer breathing, it seems like he was put on a genjutsu spell, making him think he was the real Akatsuki member" said Sakura.

"As expected of Sakura-san, as wonderful as ever" said Lee.

"Oh, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun. Long time no see" said Guy, panting.

"Yeah!" said Naruto.

"Though, we didn't need to do much" said Sasuke, sheathing his katana.

"Shall we get going then" said Sakura.

"Indeed, we still have a mission to fulfill" said Lee.

"Right! Full speed forward! We must make up for the time we've wasted here!" said Guy.

"Yes, Guy-sensei" answered Lee.

"Ah, if you two go your full speed, we won't able to-" Tenten's sentence was cut off as the two green monsters ran off as incredible speed.

"Catch up…" finished Tenten.

"We should be going too" said Neji, standing up.

Tenten sighed and ran off with him and the others, Sakura took one more glance at the dead man before catching up with the others. It didn't take long before they reached the hideout, but they made sure to keep their distance from it, so that they wouldn't lose their element of surprise.

"It seems like that….. Might Guy, was stronger than we had expected, the Konoha shinobi are right outside the base you're in….. Deidara, Sasori" said Zetsu.

"It doesn't matter, we're just about done anyways. You can dispose of the body later" said Pain.

"Wait, I sense an enormous chakra inside one of them, there's a bijuu sealed inside one of them" said Zetsu.

"Hee…. So Naruto-kun has decided to join the fight" said Tobi.

"That gives me a great idea…" chuckled Deidara.

Outside…

"So, how are we going to get in there" said Naruto.

"That seal doesn't look like you can just simple rip it off" said Sasuke.

"Indeed….." said Lee.

"I've seen it before, there's two ways to unlock it" said Pakkun "First, is that you know the way the seal works and the way it's set up, that way you could unseal it with chakra, second is to find the other four seals hidden around the area and rip them off, at the same time. If it is done separately, then it won't open until someone that knows the combination, opens it" said Pakkun.

"First, we have to find the location of the seals…." Said Kakashi.

"Neji, we're counting on you" said Guy.

Neji nodded "Byakugan"

He didn't need to move from his spot, his pupils rolled from corner to corner, but that was all he needed to do to find the seals.

"There's a seal, 46 degrees north." He paused and looked around. "Another one hidden behind a rock 32 degrees east from here" his vision zoomed around, searching every inch of the forest within his range of vision "there's one down near the water fall, 21 degrees west from here"

The last one took him awhile before he was able to find it "the last on is in a tree 56 degrees south"

"Great, we'll handle this, you guys focus on destroying that boulder in the way" said Guy.

"I'll take care of that" said Sakura.

"We're counting on you" said Kakashi.

Team Guy set off, they put on their ear pieces to keep in contact.

Tenten took the north, Neji the east, Guy took the west and Lee the south.

Guy was first to reach his target then Neji, Tenten and Lee were having a hard time trying to find their target.

"Neji, where did you say the seal was again?" said Tenten, she was by a river, looking around for the seal.

Neji used his byakugan to look over to her side, but someone he got sidetracked by Tenten and his eyes were lingering on her for a few seconds more that normal, but he quickly gave himself a metal slap and snapped back to his mission.

"It's in the water" he said simply.

"Neji, I can't find mine too" said Lee.

Neji searched Lee's perimeters "It's hidden behind the tree on your right"

Lee looked there and found it "Oh, it's here."

"Great, we tear it out on my count" said Guy.

Kakashi was standing on the boulder in the entrance, his hand on the seal, ready to rip it out.

"One…"

"Two…"

Sakura clenched her fist and pulled her glove tighter.

"Three!"

The seals were off, Kakashi jumped off the boulder and Sakura sped at the boulder, her fist glowing with chakra.

"Ha!"

There was a loud boom and then silence, nothing happened at first, then the boulder exploded in cracks and slowly fell apart in small chunks.

Sakura let out a breath.

Everyone gather at the entrance, amidst the falling rocks a mechanical tail shot out of the rocks and headed straight for Sakura, there was a blurry white figure and Sakura was no longer there.

"That was close, thanks Sasuke" said Sakura.

Sasuke was focusing on the inside of the cave, he narrowed his eyes, there were two men inside, one with a hunched back body and another one with long blonde hair on a flying white creature.

'Reports say that the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki is hotheaded' thought Deidara.

"Gaara!" shouted Naruto, Gaara was on the floor, his body wasn't moving.

"What did you do to him, you bastards!" snapped Naruto.

"You can have him back, we're done with him anyway" said Sasori.

Naruto tried to go to him, but Deidara's creature swooped in and picked him up in it's mouth.

"Of course, you'll have to take him from us" said Deidara, then he turned to Sasori.

"Give Gaara back!" snarled Naruto.

'That guy's definitely the jinchuuriki…' thought Deidara.

"Danna, you won't mind if I take the jinchuuriki, would you" said Deidara.

"Do as you wish" said Sasori.

Deidara flew out the cave on his clay creature and Gaara in it's mouth. "Hold it you bastard!" said Naruto.

"Let's take this fight somewhere else, Jinchuuriki" said Deidara.

'They know….!' Thought Sakura and Sasuke.

Naruto clenched his fists, not know whether he should leave his teammates or not.

"Naruto…. Sasuke….. Kakashi-sensei, I leave Gaara-kun to you" said Sakura.

They all turned to her, "What are you talking about, Sakura-chan" said Naruto. "Your opponent is one of the akatsuki, do you plan to take him alone?" said Sasuke.

"It'll be alright, Chiyo baa-sama is with me….. and besides, I've already prepared for this battle" said Sakura.

"But Sakura-chan" protested Naruto.

Sasuke had already left Sakura's side, "Let's go, Naruto" he said simply.

Naruto reluctantly left with Sasuke, Kakashi stayed back a bit.

"You sure about this, Sakura" said Kakashi.

"Yeah…. I can't let an elder fight such a dangerous person alone" said Sakura, smiling.

"Who's an elder" huffed Chiyo.

"Be careful then" said Kakashi, before jumping after his students.

"Chiyo baa-sama, it's been a while" said Sasori.

"Indeed…. Not long enough" said Chiyo.

"Someone you know? Chiyo baa-sama" said Sakura.

"He's my grandson" said Chiyo.

Sakura tensed up.

"You have no need to fear" said Chiyo, she took two steps forward "I'll fight him, you stay back and watch"

"I refuse, my teammates are busy fighting to save Gaara, I can't sit here and do nothing" said Sakura.

"Very well"

Chiyo reached into her sleeves and pulled out a string of kunais held together by a wire "Sou Shuu Jin" she brought her hands in front of her face and wriggled her fingers a little and the kunais glowed with chakra and shot straight at Sasori. But his tail was protecting his face.

Chiyo wiggled her fingers and a few of the kunai moved. They clashed with Sasori's tail and few out of the way, but some managed to make it through and grazed a few holes in Sasori's Akatsuki robe.

"If you're going to oppose me…. Then I have no choice" he said, as he spread out his….. hands? He was on fours, but his position greatly resembles a scorpion.

"Will you and that brat become part of my collection, Chiyo-baa" said Sasori.

"W-What's that" said Sakura.

"That isn't Sasori's true form" said Chiyo.

"Are you ready?" Sasori cut in. "You know I hate waiting"

"Don't worry" said Chiyo. Sakura reached into her kunai holder and pulled out her red stringed kunai, she spun it on her hand and held it professional in her hand.

"Soon, We'll defeat you" said Chiyo.

They both charged at Sasori. He ripped off Hiruko's mask and it's mouth opened, then needles began shooting out it's mouth like a machine gun. Sakura narrowed her eyes and charged straight forward, before the needles reached her, she leaped high into the air and flipped, but the needles shifted from Chiyo to her, but she was still airborne. She formed some handseals.

"Doton, Kabe Engo (Earth Style, Wall Protection)" a huge wall rose from the ground and protected Sakura from the needles. She landed swiftly on the ground as Chiyo joined her behind the wall, they both nodded and ran out, facing the needles head on. Sakura managed to see through the needles and dodged them just as Chiyo had.

After the needles stopped, there was a suspending silence between then, "So you saw through that one….." said Sasori, he closed Hiruko's mouth and lifted his left hand, it was wooden projectile launcher, he launched it and it was sent straight at Sakura, she jumped up and the projectile missed her but the wooden studs in the projectile shot out, launching it everywhere, not only that, but multiple senbons flew from the wooden studs, cornering Sakura.

All seems over for Sakura, to Sasori. But to his surprise, Sakura moved through the needles as if she could see the future, her movements were just as swift as Chiyo's.

After the raid ended, Sakura and Chiyo faced Sasori.

'They saw through that too….?' Thought Sasori, he looked at Sakura 'Chiyo-baa's no surprise… but the girl too?' he thought as his eyes inspected Sakura thoroughly.

Sakura charged at Sasori head on, which Sasori took as an insult.

"Don't underestimate me!" he said and his scorpion tail lunged itself at Sakura, but she didn't try to dodge it, which made Sasori suspicious.

Then suddenly the tail stopped just as Sakura did, it's sting was just centimeters away from Sakura's forehead.

'What?' thought Sasori.

A drop of sweat rolled down her cheek as her eyes were fixed on the tail

'It won't move!'

"Now! Sakura!" shouted Chiyo.

Sakura sped at Sasori and clenched her fist "Ha!"

The fist collided with the demon mask on Hiruko's back and it exploded in pieces. All that's left was a black cloaked figure, it immediately jumped away from Sakura.

Sasori's cloaked figure stood with his back towards Chiyo and Sakura.

Then suddenly his hand appeared from behind his cloak and Hiruko's head faced Sakura. A kunai shot from it's mouth, heading straight for Sakura. Chiyo panicked and lifted her hands and pulled Sakura away.

Sakura jumped back and landed in front of Chiyo.

"Just as I thought" Sasori began.

They looked at him.

"I wondered why that girl would know how to dodge my needles….. it was Chiyo-baa's doing. How could I not know… I found out only when Hiruko's tail couldn't move, you attached your chakra strings to it when you threw your kunais at me, and you were the one controlling that girl's movements" said Sasori

"So you found out….. and here I took the trouble to conceal my chakra strings to the fullest" said Chiyo.

"This is the first time anyone's pushed me to this extent" said Sasori.

"I came all this way to see my adorable grandchild's face, and finally I get to see it" said Chiyo.

"Only you could fool me to this level, After all. The one who taught me to play with puppets….. was you" said Sasori, he uncloaked himself and revealed his face.

Chiyo froze as if she saw a ghost, Sakura scowled.

'Didn't Akasuna no Sasori left 20 years ago….? Then why… does he look so, young' thought Sakura.

"He hasn't aged a day since he left" said Chiyo, bewildered.

Sakura's eyes widened 'How can that be….'

Sasori's cold eyes stared at them with no feelings at all "Surprised of my eternal youth? You'll find out soon enough" he said then waved his fingers to the back and his chakra string attached itself to a scroll in the scroll holder and he pulled it out.

He unraveled the scroll and there was an outburst of smoke on the seal. Chiyo squinted her eyes to see what's in the smoke, and when she caught a glimpse of Sasori's next puppet, her eyes widened.

"That's…." she began, looking terrified.

Sakura looked at her "The third Kazekage" breathed Chiyo.

Sasori chuckled a little and black sand started to surround the Kazekage puppet.

"Chiyo baa-sama, what's wrong" said Sakura, worried because of Chiyo's frightened face.

"Sakura, run. That's Sunagakure's third Kazekage, he can use the Iron sand Technique, the technique that was feared by even the villagers, he can morph the sand into any type of weapon and use it" said Chiyo.

Sakura thought for a moment "Wait a minute, how can he use chakra, he's a puppet" said Sakura.

"That's a human puppet, a human puppet is different, it's made from the body of the victim, allowing it to be able to use chakra" said Chiyo.

Sakura swallowed hard

"Run while you still can, He's no match for you. I'll hold him off long enough for you to escape" said Chiyo.

Sakura lowered her head.

"I refuse" she muttered, as her bangs covered her eyes.

"What are you talking about, Sakura. Didn't you hear what I just said, he's not an opponent that you can face" said Chiyo.

"If I run away, my teammates will laugh at me" Sakura smiled, she looked at the ground again and remembered the number of times they were cornered by enemies more powerful and frightening. But never once did they run away from their opponent. A gentle smile appeared on Sakura's beautiful face.

"I'm a member of team Kakashi, I'm not going to give up without a fight" said Sakura.

Chiyo looked astounded but touched, she opened her mouth to speak but Sakura cut her off.

"And" Sakura began, she formed an unknown seal, both her pointing finger was facing up and her four fingers on her right hand held her left thumb as her left four fingers held her right hand. "I've got a secret myself, I'm not a normal shinobi" said Sakura, as she shut her eyes.

Chiyo watched her closely.

"Kai…. Ho" muttered Sakura and suddenly green chakra exploded from her body, covering every inch of her petit body.

Sasori looked surprised with Sakura's sudden outburst in chakra, so did Chiyo.

Sakura's long hair floated as the pressure from the outburst in chakra pushed the surrounding air particles aside thus causing the strong wind.

Sakura's eyes shot open, but there was something different about them.

Meanwhile….

Team Guy was having trouble fighting with…. Themselves?

"Oi, You guys. You having the same problem as I am?" panted Tenten.

"Yeah" they all replied.

"They know all my moves and how to counter them, It's impossible to defeat them" said Neji.

"Nothing's impossible if you try, Neji" said Lee.

"Well said, Lee" said Guy.

"She has my weapons too" said Tenten.

"We need to hurry up and defeat these guys so we can help Sakura-san and the others" said Lee.

"You're right Lee, it's time to end this" said Guy.

Sakura's flaming jade eyes made Sasori think twice about what he thought of Sakura.

"Hee…. That's an impressive amount of chakra" said Sasori.

Sakura's green chakra died down, Chiyo stepped towards her.

"You can't be….." she said breathlessly.

Sakura turned at her, confused.

"The Haruno clan was wiped out years ago" said Chiyo.

"I'm the only one left" said Sakura, a weak smile appeared on her face.

Chiyo looked at her with sad eyes, but Sasori cut in.

"Are you done chatting? I wanna get on with killing you" said Sasori.

Sakura and Chiyo faced him, Chiyo took out a scroll and unraveled it and two smoke explosions occurred.

And there stood two puppets, a female and a male.

"You still keep those junk?" said Sasori, coldly.

"These two puppets were the first ones you create, and you call them junk?" said Chiyo.

"Those puppets are useless toys that I used to play with" said Sasori.

The two puppets were an image of Sasori's parents.

"Let's go, Sakura!" said Chiyo.

"Hai"

Sakura ran at Sasori, who was behind the third Kazekage puppet, the iron sand morphed into a thousand needles, they looked up in horror.

The needles came down on both Chiyo and Sakura, but nothing happened to them, Sakura looked up and both of the parent puppets was above her, shielding her with their arms that became an umbrella like shield.

Sasori smirked "One down, only the girl left" said Sasori.

Sakura turned to Chiyo frantically, Chiyo was panting heavily, her left arm was opened up like an umbrella, shielding her.

"Chiyo baa-sama, your arm" said Sakura.

Chiyo tried to close her arm, but it was filled with iron sand, the parent puppets fell down, unable to move.

Chiyo clenched her teeth and removed her arm.

"So you actually turned your arm into a robotic arm, no matter, you won't be able to fight with one arm" said Sasori, he shifted his gaze to Sakura.

"What I'm interested to fight is the brat" he said.

Sakura turned around and looked at the puppets, she looked at Sasori, her eyes darkened, Sasori smirked.

The Iron sand gathered again, this time it morphed into a huge block and a pyramid. The block rose above Sakura and the pyramid pointed it's sharp part at Sakura.

Then suddenly the block drop and the pyramid flew at Sakura.

Sakura didn't move, instead she formed some handseals.

"Suiton, Suiryuudan no Jutsu (Water style, Grand Water Dragon Technique)"

A water dragon flew in the cave and pushed pyramid back as Sakura jumped back to avoid being flattened under the block.

She clenched her fist and landed a punch on the block, it flew to the wall behind Sasori and made a hole there.

"Heh….. that's an impressive chakra control, being able to use a jutsu and concentrate her chakra into one point of her body" said Sasori.

The pyramid was sent flying back too, Sasori continuously sent them flying at Sakura, but everytime she manages to hit it away with her punches.

Chiyo watched her movement closely.

'She's already beginning to read Sasori's attack pattern –chuckles- really…. That slug princess has picked herself an impressive apprentice' thought Chiyo.

The ceiling on the cave was beaten up pretty bad with the block and pyramid's continuous collision with it, there's even a square shaped hole in the ceiling.

Sakura was already panting, Sasori decided it was time to end it, he brought all the Iron sand together and made a huge block, it blasted through the ceiling of the cave, causing the whole cave to crumble, huge chunks of rocks came raining down on them, Sakura hurried over to Chiyo's side and made a chakra barrier to protect them.

After the rocks stopped falling, Sakura rushed to the sunlight and looked up to see what was Sasori doing with the huge block.

The block began to break apart to make a forest of metal that was facing downwards, straight at Sakura.

"This is what made the Iron Sand Technique so feared" said Sasori.

Sakura's eyes widened at the humongous monument in front of her, even if she used her chakra barrier, it'll easily be pierced through and all Sasori needed to do was wave his finger a little and the forest came down on Sakura.

With a loud exploding sound, the battlefield was smoked.

"Sakura!" shouted Chiyo, coughing a little.

Scratches scarred Sakura's body as it laid unmoving amidst the forest of metal.

"Sakura, Sakura! Get up" shouted Chiyo.

"It's useless, every ounce of that sand was drenched in poison, even if she did survive from being impaled, she won't be able to move once she was scratched" said Sasori.

The third Kazekage puppet floated in front of him.

"If she stays still like that, she'll die within three days, I could just leave her to die. But I'm not that kind" said Sasori, he swung his arm in the direction of Sakura and the Kazekage puppet flew straight at Sakura.

At the last moment, before the puppet was able to reach Sakura. She shot up and formed some headseals in an incredible speed "Fuuton, Kaze Daibakuhatsu! (Wind Style, Grand Wind Explosion)"

And suddenly an extremely strong wave of wind rushed from Sakura, it sliced up everything in it's way, including the metal forest surrounding her, the third Kazekage puppet was completely destroyed. The explosion had a range limit, and sadly Sasori wasn't within the range limit, but so was Chiyo.

Sasori was still confused with why didn't his poison work on Sakura.

Sakura panted with an eye winced, she pushed herself up from her knees to stand, she stumbled a little before jumping back to Chiyo.

"Sakura….. but how" said Chiyo, in a low volume.

Sakura took out a capsule of yellow liquid.

"When I was back in the village, I create three anti-venom shots. I gave one to Kankuro-san already and I kept the other two, I didn't want Sasori to find out about my anti venom so I kept it a secret till I really need it. The shot lasts for three minutes, within that time, anything venom that enters my body will be broken down to harmless nutrients" said Sakura, she handed the capsule to Chiyo.

"I think you should keep this" she said.

Chiyo took it and kept it in her sleeve.

Sasori was eyeing Sakura.

'Why didn't the poison work on her…..' thought Sasori, he narrowed his eyes.

'Did she manage to create an antidote for it…?' Sasori watched as Sakura healed her own wounds.

'Hee….. she's a medical nin? But a novice can't possibly make an antidote for my poison, then was it the hag? No, I know the Sand's limits and she can't possibly make the antidote. Then it must be her' he thought.

"You should stay back for awhile, Chiyo baa-sama" said Sakura.

Chiyo nodded, then they both perked up when Sasori spoke.

"Oi, Girl. What are you" said Sasori.

Sakura turned to him.

"The last surviving member of the Haruno clan" said Sakura.

Sasori's eyes widened, before a sinister smirk appeared on his face.

"The Haruno clan you say….. that would explain why you showed skills beyond my expectations, I shouldn't have underestimated you. But now that I know, you'll be a part of my collection in return for breaking my favourite puppets" said Sasori, he ripped off his cloak.

A small gasp escaped Sakura, Chiyo just frowned.

"It's been awhile since I used this puppet" said Sasori, he unraveled the metal wires in his stomach area and held two windmill like blades in each of his hands.

"Kh….. as I thought, You turned yourself into a puppet" said Chiyo.

Sasori chuckled "Surprised? This way, your physical attacks won't affect me" Sasori closed his eyes, then opened them "Let's begin" he jumped off the metal wire that lifted him and threw the two windmill like weapons at Sakura.

Sakura quickly ran away from Chiyo so she won't get her caught in the fight. The windmill blades were spinning in high speed and heading straight for her, and what's worst was that Sasori could control them at will.

Sakura couldn't dodge so she turned around and face one of them, she coated her red string kunai with wind element chakra, the windmill blade kept on spinning as Sakura blocked it, she clenched her teeth as it kept pushing her back, her foot skid on the ground. Her eyes widened rapidly, she spun her head around and the other windmill came her way.

Her eyes glowed brighter and the blade collided with her chakra barrier.

Sakura pushed back the blade that she was blocking off it when the other way, but all it took was a slight movement of Sasori's finger to bring it back against Sakura, but before it could come back, Sakura formed some handseals.

"Suiton, Kibaku Sensui (Water Style, Exploding Fountain)"

Then water exploded from the ground beneath Sakura.

"You can't shield yourself with that" Sasori crossed his fingers and the blades cross cut the exploding fountain. Thinking that he had sliced Sakura to pieces, he smirked and called back his windmill blades.

But nothing came.

The fountain descended, and revealed Sakura, all unsliced and fine. The two windmill blades were trapped inside a sphere of water.

"When did you…..!" said Sasori.

The blades on the metal hose was detached and kept inside the water sphere.

"Suirou no Jutsu (Water Imprisonment Technique)" panted Sakura.

_Replay…_

_When the water shot up from the ground, Sakura wasn't trying to shield herself, it was to distract Sasori from noticing whats hidden inside the fountain._

_Once Sakura was surrounded by water, she quickly listened carefully for the spinning blades, she knew that once blade was going to reach her a second slower than the other. But the problem now is finding the right timing to jump._

_Sakura counted her heartbeats. "One, two, three" the blades sliced through the air in slow motion as Sakura concentrated._

'_Now!' _

_Sakura jumped up and flipped, her head facing downwards, she head 2 kunais in her hands, then when the blade sliced through her fountain, she quickly threw the first kunai that was coated with wind element chakra to cut through the metal hose, then the second one to knock the blade's aim lower. Then when the other blade came, the other blade was still spinning and since it was aimed lower it cut through the metal hose that was used to control it, freeing it from Sasori's control._

_Sakura formed more handseals then water seeped from her hands and engulfed the two blades to prevent them from shooting out the other side._

_End_

"Interesting….." said Sasori.

**To Be Continued…**

**

* * *

I know, I know. You're probably wondering, Where the F*ck is the other part? What if I say it's up my ass? Would you still want it? I'm just kidding. I figured it'd be able too long for one chapter so I had to make it 2 parts or else you people are going to get tired of reading it. So, please review or I wont pull the next chapter out my ass. Ok I was kidding. But seriously, review.**


	4. Sacriface to Save Part 2

I'm SOOOOOO sorry! I didnt have mood these past few weeks, nothing came! Hope you didnt stop believing in me... But I've been pretty busy with school and all, not much time now so I'll update as soon as I can. and Yes, I've been gettting reviews saying 'Mary Sue' yeah... you're probably right, I AM probably focusing too much on Sakura. what do you guys think...? but please, enjoy for now.

**Disclamer: It's not mine!**

* * *

Previously…..

"Suirou no Jutsu" panted Sakura with the blades trapped in a water sphere.

Sasori rolled back his blade-less metal hose and smirked "Interesting…."

Sakura's jutsu broke and the blades clanged onto the floor. Her eyes were still bright green with chakra dancing in them, She winced an eye.

"There's no time for you to rest, child" said Sasori, he pointed two gun barrels that were sticking out of his hand at her.

Suddenly water shot out of the barrels, Sakura dodged it by flipping back and landing on a big rock.

To her surprise, the water cut through the earth like a laser, Sasori moved it up and it sliced through the walls and some of the leftover ceiling too.

"Highly pressurized water" gasped Sakura, then the water swung at her like a sword, she quickly flipped over it as it passed under her, she pushed her hands against the ground and flipped back to her legs.

"That's right, if you pressurize the water to a certain extent, it makes the ultimate slicing weapon." Said Sasori, he aimed his hands at her.

Sakura's pupils shrunk, the water shot right at her, she flew back and rammed against the cave wall and made a huge crater, her body was pushed back against the wall by the water, she wasn't moving. A scowled appeared on Sasori's face.

Sakura looked up, she winced an eye, she was still holding on to her kaiho. Her limit is just about up, Sasori knew that, but her stubbornness was getting on his nerves.

Sakura was holding a wind element chakra coated kunai against the water, so it looked like she was being sliced through, but in reality she was blocking off the water, but to be able to hold herself together as the pressure hits her requires great strength.

Her hands trembled as she pushed against the water.

"Ngoh…. she should've been crushed by the pressure" Sasori muttered.

Sakura let out a breath and close her eyes, she cleared a breathing then her eyes shot open, a spark of electricity ran through her kunai, then it exploded, sparks flying everywhere, then they traveled up the water that was connected to Sasori.

He quickly ceased his connectivity, thus freeing Sakura, she slipped off the wall and landed softly on the ground, she refused to go down and attacked immediately. She charged at Sasori with her kunai, heading straight for him.

Sasori's water supply seemed to have ran out, he switched his weapon to a different element, the two barrels in his hand still pointing at Sakura, but this time instead of water, concentrated flames shot from his hands and engulfed Sakura.

Meanwhile….

Sasuke panted heavily, his cursed mark and sharingan activated, his Kusanagi no Tsurugi stabbed into the floor, several detonated cut up clay creatures laying around him.

"Oi, Naruto. You still alive" he panted.

Naruto's body twitched then he chuckled.

"Heh….. an attack like that…. Won't be enough….. to kill me" he said while getting up.

Deidara scowled "Stubborn, aren't you.

"Kakashi-sensei's not coming, is he" said Naruto.

"Why do I get the feeling that he's not late on purpose this time" said Sasuke, pulling out his sword and straightening up.

"Oi! robo-eye guy, what have you done with Kakashi-sensei!" demanded Naruto.

"Heh, why should I tell you" said Deidara. 'Tobi that bastard, what's he up to'

Sasuke dragged his sword on the ground as he ran, Deidara quickly stuffed his remaining hand into his bag of explosive clay.

Just when Sasuke was under the flying creature that was carrying Gaara and Deidara, he swung his Chidorigatana upward, it sent a spark shooting up at the creature, Deidara avoided it and raid Sasuke with a shower of explosive spiders.

It came down as spiders and it landed as sliced up pieces of clay, a spark ran through Sasuke's sword, it was so fast, it didn't look like he did anything at all.

An army of Naruto jumped Deidara, some of them managed to grab hold of the flying creature, but Deidara dropped bombs on them and they exploded into smoke.

In the end, they all ended back on the ground, and Naruto was getting frustrated.

"Let go of Gaara, you bastard!" he shouted.

"I'm not going to make it so easy for you" said Deidara, he formed a seal and the ground beneath all the Naruto exploded, thus destroying his clones.

Naruto fell on his knees, all his clone's fatigue returned to him.

Sasuke clenched his hands then ripped them apart, a chidori sparking in his hand, then he held his chidorigatana, fueling it with electricity.

"Let's go, Naruto" he said.

Naruto got up and made more clones.

They all jumped after Deidara, stepping on one another to get more air, but Deidara was too fast. None of them could get a hold of him or even the creature.

Naruto rubbed the sweat off his cheek with the back of his hand as he panted "He's too fast…" just when he was about to move again, a voice came from behind him.

"I'm lending your head, Naruto"

"Okay" Naruto paused "Wait what?" before he managed to turn around, he felt something knock on his head then pressing it down, then his head became light again.

Sasuke shot up into the air, with so much speed that Deidara's pulse to react hasn't reach his brain. With one slash of his lightning coated katana, the flying creature's wing was taken, along with Deidara's remaining arm.

Deidara's eyes widened as his pupils shrunk. Blood sprayed everywhere, the creature was detached from his legs, he floated off as Sasuke held on to the clay creature and fell with Gaara.

"Move it Sasuke!" yelled a voice from below.

Sasuke turned and looked down as Naruto ran with his rasengan, he was charging straight at two of his clones, once he reached them, they gave him a boost up and he shot into the sky.

"Rasengan!" he jabbed his attack into Deidara's gut, he shot diagonally downwards, crashing into the trees, but he wasn't dead, he was still moving as they were falling.

"Don't underestimate me, you freaking brats!" his eyes filled with rage "Katsu!"

Naruto immediately turned to Sasuke, thinking that the creature was going to explode. Sasuke had stabbed his chidorigatana into the falling white creature. "Sorry, but you lose" said Sasuke, pulling his sword out of the creature, he sheathed it and went over to it's mouth and freed Gaara, he paused for a moment when he touched Gaara's body, but he quickly got him out and jumped away from the creature before it landed.

Sasuke laid him down on the ground, Naruto ran over to him and knelt down next to Gaara.

"Oi, wake up! Open your eyes, Gaara!" shouted Naruto.

Sasuke stood next to him with his head hung low.

Sakura stood amidst the flames, her body showed no sign of affect to the flames, her eyes closed, a bead of sweat rolled down her face.

_Flashback_

"_Don't fight the fire, accept it. Then bend it at your will" Sasuke told her, as he stood on the wooden walkway in the lake, his hand held a seal as flames started to rise around Sakura, she stood on the silent water, taking deep breath._

_The flames circled around her, they started to close, with Sakura in it, they shot up, burning ferociously. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, his own flames were too big for him to see through, he had to activate his sharingan, Sakura was fine, but her chakra was dying down, he waited._

_And soon his flames became uncontrollably huge, then a stream of fire shot at him, it was so unexpectedly huge he had to jump into the water to dodge it._

_Sakura stood on the water laughing at Sasuke's reaction._

"_Are you ok? Sasuke" she said between giggles._

_Sasuke was mad at her, for a few seconds before he notices her adorable she looks when she laughs. Sakura offered him a hand which he took hesitantly. He stood on the water, now covered in water, he shook his head a little of the water off his hair, then something soft was pressed against his cheek, he paused for a moment and turned to Sakura, who was tapping her handkerchief gently on his face. He stared deeply at her beautiful face._

_The silence was broken by Sakura "So, How was I? Sasuke" said Sakura, with smile._

_A light tint of red showed up on Sasuke's face "Impressive, you could catch the technique immediately. Nothing less from Sakura" said Sasuke._

"_I was worried for a moment when the flames closed in" said Sakura, she rubbed her arm that had a burn on it._

_Sasuke touched her arm softly "You ok?" he asked worriedly._

_Sakura jumped from his contact, but she eventually nodded and smiled at him. "B-Baka, go get that treated…" he said quickly._

_End of Flashback._

'These flames are soulless, there isn't any emotion, yet they burn so furiously without a reason…' thought Sakura.

Sasori's eyes widened as his own flames were shot against him, he jumped out of the way and the flames burned into the wall behind him.

Sasori was speechless "A…a…a" was all that escaped his mouth, he turned to Sakura, she collapsed on her knees, panting. There were a few burns on her body.

As she panted her eyes slowly dimmed back down to her normal jade eyes. Sasori clenched his fists "Persistent brat….." he pushed himself back up and aimed his flamethrowers at her "Take this!"

The flames shot at her, she tried to stand but fell back down in exhaustion, she squeezed her eyes closed. But just before the flames reached her, they changed course and headed the other direction.

"Sanbo Kyukai (Three Buddhist Treasure Inhaling Defeat)" said Chiyo.

Sasori's attention was directed to the three puppets standing in a pyramid as they absorbed his flames. "Kh…. Damn hag" he cursed.

Chiyo stood with a seal on her hand and seven other puppets surrounding her.

"I promised myself I wouldn't use this technique again, but I'll have to use it one more time" said Chiyo.

"Shirohigi, Jukki Chikamatsu no Shu (White Secret Technique: Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu) used during the shinobi wars to conquer a castle. Impressive….. but I used these…." Sasori trailed off as he pulled out a scroll from his scroll holder, then opened a small door in his right chest. he threw the scroll aside as it unraveled, he formed a seal and hundreds of explosion occurred and smoked the field, chakra strings came out of his right chest and connected to his puppets.

"To conquer a whole country" said Sasori.

Sakura felt her body go numb as the number of puppets grew to an unexpectable number, a scowl remained on Chiyo's face. Sakura took a step back and clenched her teeth.

"Don't be frightened, Sakura. I'll back you up" said Chiyo.

Sakura shook her head and started chuckling "This is getting exciting…" she muttered loud enough for Chiyo to hear.

Chiyo smiled a little "Let's go!"

Sakura shot off, straight into the army of puppets, both sides clashed and Sasori has already began losing puppets. Sakura was aiming at Sasori, but she was completely surrounded by puppet, she stopped and looked around, they had their hands pointing at her, about to shoot sharp projectiles at her, they fired altogether, they didn't make it through her chakra barrier, she jumped up and stepped on the puppets to get out of the army, once she was out she formed a set of healseals " Raiton, Rairyuu no Tatsumaki! (Lightning Style, Lighting Dragon Tornado)"

Electric started building up around and soon it became a huge lightning tornado with a dragon head on top, engulfing the puppets that were it's way, it disappeared after Sakura landed on to the ground. Then she heard someone call out to her.

"Sakura! Take out Sasori, I'll cover you!" shouted Chiyo.

Sakura nodded and ran at her target with two of Chiyo's puppets protecting her and taking out the puppets that were trying to attack her, but suddenly a huge wave headed for them.

'Too many…!' thought Sakura, then she leaped to the side and rolled over then back to her feet, she watched as Chiyo's puppets tried to hold them off.

In front of Sakura was another raid of puppets, she decided to fall back and take the longer way the puppets followed her through a little gap in the wall and ended up getting stuck, she took that chance to destroy them.

After that, she jumped up and being impaled by a huge spear, she threw multiple kunais at that puppet and destroyed it.

Sasori's puppets were decreasing, making the remaining ones more deadly.

'Sasori's army is decreasing…. But now he's starting to focus more on the remaining ones, I'd better be on my guard, if one of us gets grazed by his weapons, he'll gain the immediate advantage' just when Chiyo stopped thinking, a puppet came from behind her and grazed her arm, she panicked a little and quickly destroyed it with her protector puppet.

Sakura paused and turned to look at Chiyo "Chiyo baa-sama!"

"I'm alright! You just worry about yourself!" shouted Chiyo as another puppet was destroyed beside her.

Sakura nodded and turned before one was heading straight at her with a huge blade, she took out her kunai and countered it, the sounds of metal clashing filled the ceiling-ness cave.

After Sasori's puppets were reduced to a mere 10, Sakura finally got face to face with Sasori, she aimed a punch at him, but his puppets protected him and surrounded Sakura, she formed some handseal "I won't let you!"

"Katon, Kanryuu Endan!"

The puppets totally engulfed her, Chiyo was panting with fatigue as she waited for something to happen.

A fire dragon shot up from the puppets, scorching them till there was nothing left, it looked down at Sasori, who took a step back before the dragon stream down on him, his puppet body was reduced to ash, Sakura panted as the flames disappeared.

She panted for awhile before collapsing to her knees.

"It's…. over?" she said.

Chiyo's breathing became abnormal, just when she was about to say something, she felt something rise behind her, she gasped as she turned around.

Sakura perked up and turned to the direction of the elder.

A puppet was rising all by itself, he glared at Chiyo then shot straight at her, it's bladed hand pointing at her.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

"S-Sakura…." Said Chiyo.

"Brat"

Sakura was coughing blood as Sasori's blade stabbed through her side, hitting a fatal spot of her body, her gloved hands was holding the blade, she had begun healing her wound as the blade was still stuck into her.

'She's already begun healing the wound? She's…. skilled' thought Sasori.

"Sasori… but how…." Said Chiyo, then she noticed the cylindrical thing stucked into the puppet's chest.

"His heart…. He must've switched body right before my attack collided" said Sakura.

Sasori tried to pull out the blade, but Sakura just wouldn't get go.

'She's strong….'

"I'm –cough- not letting go…" said Sakura.

"tch" exclaimed Sasori before he pulled his whole arm came off and revealed another blade arm inside.

"Then die!" he shouted at Sakura.

Something was stabbed, but it wasn't Sakura, Sasori stood motionless as he looked down at his chest, two blades was stabbed through is heart, then he looked at the two puppets who killed him. It was his own parent puppets.

"Hag…." His voice trailed off and he fell to his knees, right in front of Sakura.

"Kid…" he muttered, Sakura looked down at him.

"I'll commend you for being able to make an antidote for my poison, I'll tell you a little something for beating me... Orochimaru….. he's planning to resurrect the dead legends and create…. The ultimate army. And the akatsuki….. they're going to start the third shinobi war….." Sasori's voice faded and the light in his eyes disappeared.

Sakura herself collapsed, panting and pulling out the blade, she clenched in the pain, when it was finally out, she began coughing blood again.

Chiyo looked at her hand that was holding the antidote.

"Hurry, take it, I won't die that soon, I'll just get back to the village and make another antidote" said Sakura.

Chiyo stabbed it into her arm.

Sakura was healing herself 'I won't be able to completely patch up the wound, my inside organs are damaged, I won't be able to heal those in time, I still need to catch up with Sensei and the guys…' thought Sakura, frustratingly. Chiyo placed her hand on Sakura's wound "Kisho… Tensei (Reincarnation Technique)"

Sakura felt her wound close up at incredible rate, Chiyo's hands glowed bright blue.

After a few minutes, Sakura could move around again, but something about that technique was wrong. Sakura didn't like the feeling.

"A-Amazing….what incredible healing rate" said Sakura, inspecting her wound. Chiyo started coughing uncontrollably. "Chiyo baa-sama..!"

"Sakura…. Bring me to your teammates….. there's something important I must do" she said.

Sakura nodded and help her up, she helped her stabilize herself before jumping off, Sakura shut her eyes as she scanned the forest for her teammate's chakra.

Kakashi landed down and met up with his two students, "I'm sorry I'm late. Something had caught me in a genjutsu, it took awhile for me to get out" he said, then Sasuke gave him a look, full of sympathy and frustration. Kakashi looked down at the yelling Naruto. "Gaara! Gaara, wake up! You can't do this! You can't be gone….!" Naruto's voice trailed off.

"I'm sorry…." Kakashi apologized, then he sensed something "Where's the Akatsuki…" he said in an almost alarmed voice. Sasuke perked up, he turned behind and looked, they scanned the area and finally their eyes fell on Deidara's figure… walking to them, armless and a desperate-angry look in his eyes "I've already told you right….." he took a step closer to them, Sasuke and Kakashi got ready for battle, Deidara's eyes were wild now "Don't underestimate me…!" Sasuke's sharingan noticed something, chakra was building up in his build, he looked over at the falling white creature, it had bite marks on it, that means…. Sasuke panicked. Kakashi understood.

"Get down!" Kakashi shouted.

"Katsu!" Deidara's body went up in explosion, blowing away most of the trees in the area, Sasuke and Naruto remained unharmed along with Gaara's body, they looked up at Kakashi, his forehead protector was lifted, revealing his sharingan, but it wasn't a normal sharingan. His tomoe pattern was different, more complex.

"Mangekyou Sharingan…" Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi had directed the blast into another dimension, but it was an extremely powerful blast, even he was tired, he looked down at his students "I've told you right…. I've learned a few new tricks too" he said breathlessly.

Sasuke smirked a little, but then their attention was directed back to Gaara, what were they gonna do, he was the Kazekage of the sand, what's gonna happen to the village and more importantly, how were they gonna break it to Sakura…..

As if on cue, Sakura and Chiyo landed in, at first Sakura noticed the huge crater in the middle of the trees, then she noticed Gaara's body on the floor with Naruto kneeling beside him. Sakura slowly let go of Chiyo and made her way to Gaara, tears were stinging at her eyes, she'd already known…. Ever since they entered the cave, she'd known. Gaara's chakra was gone, but she'd still refused to believe it, she refused to cry. But now, she was at her limit, she broke down. Her soft sobbing sound would break any man's heart, this was what they were so afraid of. No one wanted Sakura to cry.

"Gaara….." she sobbed as she knelt down at the same place Naruto had been kneeling at, she clenched her fists as they were on the floor, grabbing a handful of grass and dirt, her hair falling around her face on both directions, blocking their view of her face as she had her head down.

"Sakura-chan…." Said Naruto, Sasuke raised a hand, stopping him from saying anything to Sakura, nothing they said would help her now, they just have to wait till she stops crying.

Sakura's shoulders trembled as more tears rained on the ground next to Gaara, then a gentle hand was placed on her shoulder, She looked up and looked at the hand on her shoulder and tracing it back to Chiyo, she was a wise look on her face. Sakura moved aside and let Chiyo kneel next to Gaara's body.

Her jade eyes watched as Chiyo placed her hand on Gaara's limp body. Her hand glowed light blue like the time where she healed Sakura. Sakura knew what was coming, she looked down at her hand and shut her eyes for a moment. Gaara's chakra was slowly reviving, but Chiyo's was fading, she opened her eyes and saw the fatigue on Chiyo's face, Sakura put her hand on top of Chiyo's "Please….. Use my chakra" said Sakura, Chiyo looked at her with her wise look and nodded. "Are you sure you want to do this…. Chiyo baa-sama?" said Sakura.

Chiyo nodded "I've lived long enough…. I am of no use to the sand, but he is" Chiyo finished softly. Sakura held in her tears "Alright" she squeaked.

Sakura's green chakra broke out, lashing in all directions. Chiyo could feel it giving her a push and supporting her firmly.

Her three teammates watched closely as the Gaara's chakra was restored. Sasuke had activated his sharingan, his red and black eyes were narrowed, he could see Chiyo's chakra wanning as Gaara's grew. Finally the chakra dimmed down and Chiyo's body fell backwards only to get themselves held up by Sakura's arms, Sakura's tears rolled down her cheeks. "Thank you….. Chiyo baa-sama…." She sobbed bitterly.

Gaara groaned a little and sat up, then rubbed the back of his head then turned his head and saw Sakura, crying with Chiyo in her arms "Sakura? What happened" said Gaara.

"Gaara! You're alive!" shouted Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto. What's going on here" said Gaara.

"That baa-chan did something with her medical ninjutsu and brought you back, she just passed out, but she should be coming round soon" said Naruto.

"Naruto" Kakashi began.

"She's not coming back" said Sasuke.

Naruto froze then decided to laugh it off "What do you mean, she's not coming back. She's fine, right Sakura-chan" he said, he said nervously. Then his eyes fell on the sobbing Sakura and his confidence fell "Sakura-chan….?"

Sakura shook her head and looked at him with her wet eyes.

"That's…. i-impossible" he said and fell to his knees next to Chiyo "Oi…. B-baa-chan. Wake up….." said Naruto.

"She's not coming back…. Naruto" Sakura said breathlessly.

Naruto punched the ground "Dammit…." He cursed.

Gaara took a step towards them, then noticed the people surround the clearing. It was the people from the sand.

"Look! Gaara-sama's alive!" one of them shouted.

They all cheered, Team Guy was there too. They had just arrived from their battle with clones of themselves. "That's a relieve, Naruto-kun and the others made it on time, Gaara-kun seems to be fine" said Lee.

"I'm so proud of you, Kakashi!" shouted Guy, giving him a thumbs up. But Kakashi didn't even look up from the ground.

Neji narrowed his eyes "Somethings wrong…. I dun sense any chakra from Chiyo baa-sama" he said.

"What do you think happened" said Tenten.

The cheers faded and everyone crowded around Team Kakashi and Gaara. "Everyone" Gaara finally spoke "Let us pay our respects to Chiyo baa-sama. Who gave me a new life….. in exchange for hers"

The crowd fell silent and everyone was praying in their heads as they looked down. Sakura laid Chiyo's body down softly and stood up, wiping the tears away from her eyes. Sasuke approached her "Sakura….. I" before he could finish his sentence, Sakura turned and cried into his shoulders. "I couldn't do anything….." she muttered into his white jacket.

Sasuke wrapped her arms around Sakura "You did well…. Sakura" he said, stroking her back.

They all brought her body back to the village, where they have to confront her brother about what happened to his sister. Neither did he cry, nor did he faze from the sight of his sister's unmoving body, "This isn't one of her jokes…. Is it…. she's not going to wake up and say 'Gotcha' like she always does…. Is she…." There was a light quiver in his voice. Everyone stayed quiet.

"Nee-chan….." his trembling hands reached out and brushed a strand of stray hair from her face then moved down to hold her hand.

They gave her an honorable memorial, and buried her next to her son and daughter-in-law's grave.

But after that, Kakashi collapsed, looks like that mangekyou took a little more out of him than expected. His team were a surprised but his sudden flop onto the floor. The next day when he woke up in the hospital, Naruto was first to greet him "You're getting old, Kakashi-sensei" said Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura snickered.

"Being old doesn't mean I can't beat you anytime, Naruto" said Kakashi.

"Oh yeah? Let's see you try" challenged Naruto.

"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei's a patient" Sakura said, firmly.

Naruto flashed a cheeky grin. Kakashi threw the covers off and got on his feet "I'm fine, we'd better get back to the village and report to the Hokage" he said.

"Bushy-brow sensei's team already left, we should be going too" said Naruto.

"Alright then" said Kakashi.

They were seen off by the Kazekage himself along with the rest of the village, they lost count on how many thank you's they had gotten along the way to the gate.

"See ya, Gaara" Naruto shouted from a distance, Sakura smiled at him and waved. Sasuke just gave him a stoic look, in his language it should mean 'Good luck with the village' Gaara should understands that language perfectly.

Kakashi waited for his student to finish waving then they set out back to the village…..

Next Chapter 

"Hiroyama Takuya, and you bastards must be the two boys Sakura-chan has told me so much about"

"Don't touch her"

"Why can't they get along…."

"Fighting isn't going to help save Sakura"

"I still don't like you"

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Soo~ What'd ya think, was it as horrible as i thought it'd be? Review and let me see. OMG I MADE A FREAKING RHYME!


	5. Team Kakashi vs Team Yamato

**Hey, how's it going guys. So yeah, I finished another chapter. I don't think it's very interesting though. But read and tell me what you think. Sorry it took me awhile, school. **

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**Team Kakashi vs Team Yamato**

It's been a week since Team Kakashi had saved the Kazekage, Sakura was hanging out with her teammates, Naruto was upside down on a tree as Sakura sat on the bench under it and Sasuke leaning against it. "We haven't been on a mission for a while…." Said Naruto, the rare lifelessness ringing in his tone.

"Mmhmm…." Expressed Sakura, her body leaned back on the bench and her body laying lifelessly on the wooden chair.

"That's no surprise…. Now that the sand has been attacked by the Akatsuki, the whole nation is shaken up… the jounin are all busy with other missions. Which leaves us….." said Sasuke, in his monotone voice.

"Argh! I'm so sick of doing nothing! Sasuke! Let's duel" said Naruto, jumping down and landing down in front of Sasuke.

"No, go duel with yourself, idiot" said Sasuke.

"You afraid?" mocked Naruto. Sasuke's eyes met his, challengingly. "Alright" said Sasuke. Sakura sighed "You two will never give it a rest, will you" she said.

"Nope" "Never"

Sakura smiled and got up "Let's go to a place where you _won't _destroy everything around you" said Sakura.

They found themselves a wide space for dueling, Sakura raised a hand in the air, her long hair flowing with the wind. The two males were ready, armed with a kunai each and their legs widened. Just when Sakura's hand was about to come down, a surprise call came from her direction.

"Sa-kura- chan!~" the voice called in an annoying slur. Two hands came from behind Sakura and hugged her from behind, she let out a squeak in surprise.

Two heads immediately turned her way, there was a stranger…. Holding onto Sakura! Two kunais flew at the guy behind Sakura, they flew past Sakura's head, grazing a little of her bangs. The mystery guy had to let go of Sakura to dodge the kunais. "Hee… what skill in handling your kunais….." said a deep male voice from behind Sakura, he received a very dangerous glare from Sasuke "Don't touch her…." He growled. Sakura was still taking in on what just happened, she blinked a few times. "Takuya, when did you get back" she asked, turning around.

"Just a couple of hours ago, I was looking for you" said the one she called, Takuya, a boy with messy brown hair, dark green eyes and his forehead protected around his neck.

"What about Sai-kun" said Sakura.

"Oh he's…. around here….. somewhere" he said.

"And may I ask, who are you" a voice from behind them said, it sounded more like a warning than a question.

"Hiroyama Takuya, and you bastards must be the two boy Sakura-chan has told me so much about" said Takuya, looping his hand around Sakura's shoulder like a lover.

Sasuke and Naruto gave a low growl, but before they could bite his hand off, Takuya gave a yelp and jumped up. Everyone was surprised by the sudden outburst, and immediately they knew why. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop flirting with Sakura" said a loud commanding voice, similar to Naruto's. Everyone turned around and noticed a boy with brown hair and wolf eyes and cheeks decorated with red marks.

"Kiba-kun" said Sakura in a smile. "Akamaru doesn't like that" said Kiba, coming to a stop and crossing his arms. Akamaru stood in between Kiba and Sakura and growled dangerously at Takuya. Naruto grinned cheekily as Sasuke smirked they were both thinking the same thing 'We owe you one, Kiba'

"Damn you, Kiba" spat Takuya, rubbing his sore bottom. Naruto had just noticed…. 'What's that white furry animal that just bit that bastard in the ass' he thought, then he leaned down and looked past Sakura. "Kiba, who's that scary oversized pup?" said Naruto.

"What are you talking about Naruto, don't tell me you forgot Akamaru already" said Kiba, patting Akamaru on the head. Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground. "A-A-Akamaru?" Naruto pictured the small little pup sitting on Kiba's head most of the time, and looked at the huge slit eyed dog looking at him now "He grew that big, in 2 and a half years?" shouted Naruto in disbelief. Akamaru barked.

"Let's drop the dag subject shall we" said Takuya, walking back into the group, Akamaru growled in warning to him to not get any closer to Sakura, but Sasuke's intensive glare was enough. "What relations do you have with Sakura-chan" said Naruto.

"We're teammates" said Takuya, with a smug on his face. Sakura nodded, before any of them managed to open their mouths, someone cut in "Kiba, we've been called in for a mission" said a muffled low voice.

Kiba and Akamaru turned and look behind, it was their teammate, Shino and Hinata. "Yo, Hinata. Looks like your hair grew" said Naruto, waving at her. Hinata blushed heavily and played with her fingers "E-Er…. Ye-yeah, It's good to s-see you're back….. N-Naruto-kun" she said innocently. Naruto smiled at her "Yeah, it's good to have you back, Naruto" said Shino. Naruto studied his face for a moment "Who're you"

Everyone sweatdropped. "You do not remember me? Naruto" said Shino, he turned around "I'm upset"

"Ah, he's sulking" said Kiba.

"I'm am most definitely not sulking, hurry. We've got a mission to attend to, no time for chit chat" said Shino and he was off. "Don't m-mind him, he's j-just sulking" said Hinata, then a voice shouted from behind "I am not!" Hinata smiled and bowed her head a little before jumping off with Kiba and Akamaru. "I'll leave Sakura to you two" Kiba called out.

Sakura waved them off then turned her attention to the 3 ninja boys. "What do you mean she's your teammate" said Naruto.

"We're Team Yamato, Squadron 14. We're Sakura-chan's temporary mission team when you morons left her to do your training" said Takuya.

Sasuke and Naruto glared at the boy. There was something in his tone that Sasuke really hated when he said they left Sakura to go train, it made him feel….. guilty.

"Hey! Who're you calling morons?" said Naruto.

"Both of you, especially you" Takuya, eyed Naruto as he said it. Naruto clenched his fist then pointed at Takuya "I challenge you to a duel! If I win, you'll take back what you said!" he declared proudly. "Challenge accepted" Takuya smirked as he said it, then he turned to look at Sakura, who tilted her head a little in question. "But if I win, I get a kiss from-" but before he could finish his sentence, he was cut off by Sasuke. "Denied" he said, putting his hand on Sakura's shoulder and pulling her back as he stepped in front of her.

The two boys glared at each other for what seemed like ages, before Takuya broke the silence "Don't get too cocky….. _Uchiha_" he practically spat Sasuke's last name. Sasuke could've sworn Takuya's eyes turned golden for a second. "I can say the same for you" Sasuke finally replied. Sakura could feel the intensity of their glares just by looking at them, she was petrified, afraid to even touch any one of them. Sasuke somehow felt Sakura's fear behind him and broke his glaring contest with Takuya and turned to look at her. He was surprised to see Sakura tense up when he looked at her, and a little hurt too. He turned back and bit his lip. "If you win…. I'll do whatever you want for a day" said Sasuke, reluctantly. After the words had escaped his mouth, his eyes widened as if he just found out what he just said.

Everyone stared at him like he was crazy, Sasuke faked a cough and straightened then turned and walk to Naruto. "You'd better not lose this one, loser" muttered Sasuke, his expression told Naruto the real sentence 'Lose this one and you'll forever be a loser' Naruto gulped and managed a weak smile. "Don't worry Sasuke, there's no way I'll lose to this amateur" he said, confidence ringing in his tone. Sakura noticed that she's been keeping quiet for the whole time, but she couldn't help it. What can you say that'll stop two rhinos from ramming on each other. There wasn't any other choice, but to let them handle it like men.

Sasuke and Sakura stood on different sides of the field, at the hand on Sasuke. The battle between Uzumaki Naruto and Hiroyama Takuya broke out. Takuya raided Naruto with a shower of kunais from above when he leaped into the air, Naruto took a few jumps back to avoid being rained on, then after he successfully dodged it, he took out a kunai and shot up in the air, colliding his kunai with Takuya's, both hands trembled and the light clinking of metal was heard, Takuya narrowed his eyes and suddenly Naruto was pushed back, he shot into the ground, crashing hard as Takuya landed swiftly on both legs.

A small gasp escaped Sakura, Sasuke became a little nervous. 'This guy isn't just all talk' Sasuke looked up as Takuya launched himself back into the air "Katon, Housenka (Fire Style, Mystical Flower)" shouted Takuya. Little fireballs shot into smoke where Naruto was in, and exploded. Sakura noticed something, Naruto's chakra isn't in the smoke anymore. Takuya gave a smirk as gravity pulled him back. "What are you smirking at, moron" a voice suddenly came from behind Takuya. His eyes widened. "Rasengan!"

"Tenraigan!" this took Naruto by surprise, Sasuke too. Takuya's pupils turned golden, his fingers held an unknown seal, then a light _ding_ filled the air. Naruto's Rasengan was broken, and he was hit back with an blinding power, like a blast of air. Except it wasn't wind. It was as if light itself was pushing Naruto back. Naruto flew back, still trapped in the air, he flipped and landed on the ground after Takuya touched down, his eyes were returned back to normal. But he had no idea what that had been, but he was gonna find out. Sasuke watched Takuya's actions more carefully now.

Takuya's broad shoulders heaved up and down as he watched Naruto closely with his dull green eyes. "Oi, moron. What was that attack just now" demanded Naruto. Takuya scowled "Want to taste it again?" Takuya's lips twitched. Sakura fist tightened, she didn't like where this battle is going. Naruto grinned, "Bring it on" He formed a cross with his two fingers "Tajuu, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" 5 Narutos appeared. Takuya found himself surprised " Tajuu Kage Bunshin?" but before he had time to pull himself together, the Naruto(s) already charged. Metal clashing, Clones exploding in smoke, and Jutsus executed against one another.

Soon, both of them could barely stand. Takuya's legs wobbled unstably before he fell on all fours coughing and gasping for air. "Heh, what's the matter….. moron….. too –wince- tired to fight?" said Naruto, before he fell on one knee. The battle had been going on for almost 2 hours, Sasuke and Sakura doubt anyone of them could continue any further, he was about to step in when Takuya stood up, although his fatigue showed on his face, his body didn't seem tired at all "I'm gonna end this" he muttered, he formed a chain of seals continuously at an even speed. Sasuke recognized the pattern, it was a fire style, but he's never seen one with so many seals.

Sakura's eyes widened, she knew. Takuya was going out of control, his eyes showed the need to see blood, he was dangerous at this state. Takuya's eyes shot open "Katon, Seishin no Honoo (Fire Style, The Soul's Flame)" He was really gonna kill Naruto, all Sakura had in mind was to save Naruto. Red flames started to coat Takuya, a tiger made out of flames grew bigger and bigger above Takuya. He released it, The red tiger launched itself right at Naruto's fallen figure, he looked up and his eyes widened. There was a flash of pink and Takuya's bloodthirsty eyes disappeared and was replaced with eyes filled with shock and desperation, but he couldn't bring it back. Sakura was unprepared too, throwing herself in between the attack and Naruto was all she could come up of, not her brightest idea, but yeah.

Sakura wished she had come up with a more intelligent idea, it was too fast for her to activate her Kaiho and use her barrier, she shut her eyes and waited for the burning. But all the burning she felt was a warm firm arm wrap itself around her waist and pulled her against something, or rather. Someone. She looked up and found her body pushed against Sasuke's chest, sideways. Sasuke held up one hand against the flames, he looked like he was taming it. Hot air rushed against Sakura's face as she watched the flames get directed away like it was the most easiest thing to do in the world. Once it was over, Sasuke's closed his fingers and rubbed them a little before dropping his hand and looked down at Sakura, she stared at him with her green orbs so innocently, he nearly lost himself in her eyes.

After awhile, only had he noticed that he was still holding her to him. He drew back his hand like it had just touched magma. "I-I'm sorry" he stuttered, before his expression changed and he faced Takuya. "You bastard, were you trying to kill him?"

"So what if I was" snapped Takuya "You could've killed Sakura" said Sasuke. Takuya's eyes traveled from Sasuke to Sakura "Sakura-chan, you're not hurt. Are you?" he asked, concerned. Sakura took in a big breath "I'm fine" she said firmly. "Takuya….." she muttered as she came from behind Sasuke and started walking to Takuya. "Yes?" he asked. Sakura raised her hand.

_PAK_

Takuya had just received a smack across the face….. by Sakura. He looked startled, but he knew why. He had tried to hurt her precious teammate, if he actually killed him, Sakura would never forgive him, but he would never forgive himself if he had hurt Sakura. His eyes softened and he faced her again, he smiled "Alright….. I'm sorry…." He muttered. Sakura smiled back and turned back to her teammates, Sasuke was helping Naruto back on his feet. She could heard Naruto shout out some defense for himself.

A blurry black figure landed down in the clearing, they all looked at him. "Sai-kun" said Sakura, they all went over to meet him. "Sakura-san, it's good to see you again" said Sai. Sakura gave him a hug, which earned him 3 very deadly glares. He gulped and let go of her. "Sakura-san, these two….." he trailed off, his eyes traveling to Sasuke and Naruto.

"Sai-kun, these two are my teammates" said Sakura, she went behind Sasuke and pull her hands on his shoulders "This is Sasuke" she said peering over Sasuke's shoulder to look at Sai. Then she moved over to stand next to Naruto then put a hand on his shoulder "This guy is Naruto" she smiled. Sai stared at Sasuke for a few seconds then moved to Naruto, examining him. "You seem….. dickless"

Stone. They were all turned to stone. After what seemed like ages, Naruto finally exploded. "What did you say? You little shit!" he cursed Sai with all he's might, struggling as Sasuke and Sakura held him back from launching himself at Sai. "N-Naruto, calm down. He's just a little too honest, that's all. He says whatever's in his mind" said Sakura, quickly. Which didn't exactly help cause it still didn't hide the fact that Sai thinks Naruto doesn't have a penis as his first impression of him.

"Did I say something wrong…..?" Sai whispered to Takuya. Who just facepalmed.

After Naruto had calmed down, Sai told them that they had been summoned for mission.

At The Hokage's Office….

"What took you so long? Sai! I told you to get them half an hour ago!" scolded Tsunade. Sai lowered his head "Right….. we had a little problem" said Sai, his eyes rolled over to Naruto, who was beside him. Tsunade sighed and massaged her temples "No matter, we're lost too much time, I'm going straight to the point. Kakashi and Yamato are on a special mission for the jounins. Which leaves us in lack of capable commanders, so for this mission I'm sending two combined squadrons, but without a jounin rank. You are to go to the Hizen Prison of the west and assist the shinobi there. There has been a security breach and the prisoners are scattered everywhere. This is an urgent mission, I didn't have time to be picky about my troops, this is an A-rank. Do _not_ mess up. Sasuke, I'm appointing you team leader" said Tsunade.

Takuya's jaw dropped.

"Understood" Sasuke answered.

"Fifth, There is no way I am taking orders from that….. that arrogant….." Takuya was cut off.

"Hiroyama! We don't have time to argue about this. Sasuke has the most amount of leadership sense, you will follow as he says" said Tsunade.

Takuya clenched his fists, "Yes, ma'am…" he said, reluctantly. They met up at the gate, Sasuke and Sakura was last to arrive. "What took you so long. _Leader_" Takuya snared. Sasuke was actually just waiting for Sakura to get her things ready, but he didn't say anything. "It was my fault. Takuya. I was packing some antidotes to bring along in case of emergencies" said Sakura. "Oh that's fine, you're always so thoughtful. Sakura-chan" he smiled. The deadly tone he used with Sasuke was totally gone as if he was a different person.

Naruto and Sasuke watched as he continued showering Sakura with compliments in his smitten voice. They sweatdropped. Sakura rubbed the back of her head in flattery. "Oi, loverboy. Stop flirting and let's go" said Sasuke. He jumped off. Takuya turned to Sasuke who was jumping off and glared darkly at his disappearing figure. "What did you say you bastard!" he yelled at him with an annoyed voice. Sakura shook her head and followed behind the boys.

The whole journey to the prison was in silence. Takuya stayed close behind Sakura watching her with heart shaped eyes, which was beginning to bug Sasuke very much. Sakura didn't even seem to mind that he was being too close to her. Sasuke didn't even want to think about how close he'd been with her during missions when he was gone, Sakura might have already…..

Sasuke gave himself a mental slap. No no, if he did that, he'd have to destroy him. They were close to the prison now. They'll reach in another half an hour. But of course it's never that simple. A kunai flew past Naruto, just barely missing his neck and then stabbed into a tree behind Sakura. "What was that!" said Naruto before he was tackled to the ground by a giant sized escapee.

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura. When the smoke cleared, Naruto had a kunai pointed at his face, the escapee was pushing it down on Naruto, who struggled to keep the kunai out of his face. "Get….. off….. me!" struggled Naruto. Sasuke quickly switched direction from forward to backward by pushing his legs against the branch and flipped backwards, he landed swiftly on the ground. He then appeared next to the struggling Naruto and escapee. He landed a kick on the escapee and he was sent flying sideways, crashing into the trees.

A pink flash jumped down and beside him before a clang of metal was heard, Sakura knocked a skinny, bloodthirsty looking guy out of the way when he charged at Sasuke when a kunai. "Thanks" Sasuke said to Sakura. Naruto hopped back on his feet. "Where did they come from?" he said, arming himself with a kunai.

"They've gotten this far already….. tch. Looks like we're spending out whole day here" said Sasuke. Sakura chuckled a little "We might as well make the best of it" said Sakura. The two escapees got back on their feet. And looked at the three. They tightened their grip on their kunai and charged. Sasuke and Naruto went against them, both sides clashed and broke out into a kunai combat battle. Just when Sasuke had the skinny one in a dead lock with his kunai, he was about to put a genjutsu on him with his sharingan, before a voice called out "Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke looked up and saw a fireball hurl at him and the escapee. It would hit them both, they broke out of the deadlock and jumped back, letting the fireball scorch the ground.

Sasuke looked up at where Takuya was standing, he narrowed his eyes at him. Before the escapee charged at him again. Sasuke threw his kunai at the escapee, but he jumped out of the way, and Sasuke saw a kunai flying at him from the opposite direction, Takuya had thrown the kunai from behind the escapee, hoping to hit him too. Sasuke's quick reflexes acted out and he tilted his head to avoid it. Takuya had blocked it off. The two boys glared at each other "Stop getting in my way" Takuya growled. "That should be my line" Sasuke deadpanned. "Sasuke! Above you!" shouted Naruto, who was blocking the fat escapee's punch. Sasuke looked up, the escapee was jumping down on him.

Sakura shot out of nowhere and tackled the escapee out of the way, they rolled over on the ground and the escapee ended up on top of Sakura, strangling her. Sakura was holding his wrists, trying to pull him off, but his nails were digging into her skin, three kunais few from the left and stabbed into the escapee's side before a kick collided with him that sent him ramming through 3 layers of bark.

Sakura sat up, coughing and rubbing her neck. Sasuke knelt down next to her "You alright?" he asked. Sakura smiled "Yeah, thank you" Sasuke helped her up before Takuya and Naruto rushed to her "Sakura-chan!" they both said in unison. "Are you alright? Where is that bastard!" shouted Naruto, impatiently looking everywhere. "He needs a beating" said Takuya.

"You can beat him up all you want later, but now someone has to go check the situation of the prison, we can't tell the escapees get any further. Sai, you go. The rest of us will round up the rest of the escaped prisoners" said Sasuke.

Sai has just finished tying up the fat escapee with his ink snake. "Understood" he answered and unraveled a blank scroll and drew an huge bird on it. "Ninpou, Choju Giga (Ninja Art, Superior Beast Imitation)" the bird he drew jumped out from the paper and flew into the sky before swooping down and letting Sai jump on it.

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Sakura can you track them down?" he said. Sakura nodded before taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. After moments for memorizing all their location, Sakura reopened her eyes "None of them has gotten as far as here yet, but there are around 65 of them scattered across the forest.

"How close are the closest ones" said Sasuke. "30 degrees from the north, about 100 meters forward. And another one 60 degrees south, about 80 meters forward" said Sakura. "Great, we'll split up into 2 teams." Said Sasuke. "Sakura's coming with me" he quickly added. "Hey no fair!" shouted Naruto.

"Yeah, Uchiha. Just because you're the leader doesn't mean you can boss everyone around" said Takuya. There was a pause "Wait I thought that's what he's _supposed _to do" said Naruto. "Whatever, point is that. I'm not letting you team up with Sakura-chan just like that" said Takuya. "We don't have time for this, at this rate. We won't be able to finish rounding up the escapees by sunset" said Sasuke. They all broke out into an argue. Sakura watched from the side, helpless to do anything. "Why can't they get along….." she muttered.

"Then we let Sakura decide" said Takuya. Sakura jumped a little when everyone looked at her "E-Erm…. I'll stick with Sasuke then" she said nervously as if she was just trying to get everyone to stop staring at her. "Then that settles it" said Sasuke, he jumped off with Sakura following him, leaving a very angry Takuya and Naruto.

He could heard them argue already. He felt so relieved when Sakura chose to stick with him, he wasn't being desperate or anything, he just didn't like leaving Sakura to anyone else. Sakura suddenly gasped "What is it" said Sasuke. He could tell Sakura was concentrating really hard as her eyebrows were creased and her eyes looked focused "The numbers have suddenly increase, 13 of them are headed out way" she said, not turning to look at Sasuke. "We'll just have to face them head on" said Sasuke with a very excited smirk. Sakura smiled, how typical of Sasuke, always wanting to challenge himself. "But we can't underestimate them, remember these criminals are strong enough to get themselves thrown one of the most secured prison in the fire country" noted Sakura.

"Fine, it's not my fault if I accidentally kill one" warned Sasuke. Sakura giggled "Okay". Sasuke looked over his shoulder to see her smile and felt a grin creep it's way to his face, but his face fell and he turned to carry Sakura off and safely avoid a bunch of shurikens with paper bombs attached to it. He and Sakura landed on a branch above the explosion, he set Sakura down and they crouched low to avoid the chances of being seen.

"Thanks" said Sakura. "How many are there" said Sasuke. "Only three, but the rest are close by" said Sakura. "Good, stay here. I'll be done in a second" He ordered her before jumping down into the smoke, big mistake. A new explosion occurred in the smoke, Sakura turned away and covered her face to prevent the smoke from going into her eyes, after the explosion blast ended she looked down, her eyes frantically looking for Sasuke, at least a little glimpse of him or his black hair and white jacket. Sakura's breathing became abnormal, she knew he was alive, but she wasn't sure if he was in any condition to move, what if he was jumped.

She formed a seal and a blast of wind blew the smoke away clearing her vision. Sasuke was standing on three full grown men stacked up on each other. He looked up at Sakura and grinned at her, proving to her that he really needed only a second. Sakura smiled down on him, Sasuke's expression became frightened all of the sudden. Sakura quickly spun around and a tanto slammed down on her kunai, a man with golden eyes looked at her as if she was a meal. Dark brown hair that reached his shoulders and looked like he hasn't been combed for several years.

He pressed his weight down on her, Sakura struggled to get the advantage. Sasuke as going to help, but was interrupted when a gang of 5 men jumped him, blocking out all his exits to Sakura. He growled and activated his sharingan and watched as the men started to doubt their chances of winning "A-An….. U-Uchiha….." stuttered the man that Sasuke was looking at. "Move. Aside…." He said through his teeth. A war cry sounded behind Sasuke and the two escapees him decided to attack. He was pissed off enough that Sakura's in trouble, he decided to be quick with this, he put them all under a genjutsu spell in a flash. Just when he was about to run up the tree, a voice came from above.

"Sasuke! Heads up!" he knew that voice, Sakura. She was okay, well, not that he doubted her or anything. But what did she mean by heads up, he looked up and an unconscious body was coming down on him, he was nearly squashed under the man if it weren't for his quick reflexes. She smiled down at him before jumping down herself. "Well, that makes 11 of them down" said Sasuke.

"There's something weird about Naruto's side" said Sakura, worriedly. "What do you mean" said Sasuke. "They haven't even taken down one of the escapees" said Sakura. "Those idiots probably have no teamwork" said Sasuke. "Shouldn't we go help them" said Sakura. "Yeah, but we should take care of all the escapees on this side of the forest" said Sasuke.

Sakura nodded,

Meanwhile.

"Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu"

"Wa-wait! You moron!" Naruto stuttered as he was wrestling with a blind escapee with bandages around his eyes. A fireball shot right at Naruto, It would take down the escapee, but it would do the same to Naruto. The fireball engulfed the both of them, then there was an exploding puff of smoke and a screaming of a man. When the flames disappeared, all that's left was a burned man, lying on the ground.

"You moron! You could've killed me!" shouted Naruto, standing on a branch above Takuya. "That won't be my problem, now will it" snapped Takuya. "What did you say?" said Naruto, ready to launch at him in a split second. But their fight was interrupted by a flash bomb. "Dammit…." Cursed Naruto before the bomb exploded.

They were really in trouble, neither one of them could see. "This is all your fault, you dumb blonde" said Takuya. "I'm not the one that keeps trying to kill his partner, moron" said Naruto, rubbing his eyes. Naruto felt a rush of wind coming at him, he quickly leaped into the air. "Fuuton, Kako Kiryu! (Wind Style, Downburst)" Naruto was slammed down to earth, the heavy wind pressure crushing both Takuya and Naruto.

A blur of pink and white shot out of the trees, Sasuke appeared beside the culprit, it took the man awhile to notice Sasuke's presence, when he did, Sasuke slammed his leg into his gut and sent him flying to a tree. The technique was dispersed, Sakura went to check on the two boys, who were already getting up. "Ah, you two shouldn't move just yet" said Sakura.

Takuya's ears sharpened "Is that…. Sakura-chan?~" he said, excitedly. "Sakura-chan, Sasuke didn't do anything perverted to you right" said Naruto. Both of them still couldn't open their eyes, Sakura checked them for any serious injuries, but thankfully there weren't any.

"You both aren't seriously injured, but you'd better be careful, Naruto. Anymore pressure on your left knee and it might crack" said Sakura. Sasuke landed next to her, Sakura gave them a smile even though they couldn't see it. Sakura suddenly tensed up, everyone seemed to have sensed her fear "Sakura-chan, is something wrong?" said Naruto.

"Huge… chakra….. behind us" she barely managed to get it out of her mouth. A dark chuckle sounded from behind Sakura and Sasuke. Naruto and Takuya looked up, trying to open their eyes. Sasuke turned his head behind and looked from the corner of his eyes.

"You're not bad….. Ojou-chan" he had a deep, manly voice. Sakura turned behind and met his cold, silver eyes. "A-A-Akizen….. Suou" stuttered Sakura. They haven't seen Sakura so nervous since she reunited with her old mentor, Takumi.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan" said Takuya.

"I saw his information on Tsunade-sama's files when I was arranging them. He's the top criminal in Hizen, single handedly took down 3 squadrons of jounin, Kakashi-sensei was one of them, they were out of action for 2 months. He was being scouted by the Akatsuki, but Tsunade-sama managed to take him down without anymore casualties" said Sakura.

"The Akatsuki?" said Naruto.

The man threw his head back and laughed "Aren't you a smart one" said Suou. Sasuke growled at him. Suddenly a voice sounded from behind "Katon, Karyuu Endan! (Fire Style, Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)" three fire dragons shot out from behind Sakura and Sasuke and attacked the man, standing on the branch. But he didn't move, nor did he try to counter it. He merely smirked and held out his hand. Sakura's eyes widened "Takuya! Stop!" she screamed.

But it was too late, all three fire dragon had connected with the man, but they all seemed to be absorbed into his hand, but a second layer of flame circled the dragon and shot right at Takuya, scorching him. Everyone looked panicked. Sakura ran over to check on him as the two boys covered for them. "What did you do, you bastard!" shouted Naruto.

Suou laughed again "I was just merely returning his greeting" he chuckled. Sasuke gritted his teeth. Naruto charged, followed by Sasuke. Both of them shot up into the air and slammed a leg down on the Suou, he grabbed their leg, and looked up with his wild eyes. Suddenly Naruto and Sasuke felt as it their legs were snapped in half, they let out a cry of pain before Suou threw them down, they came crashing down like a meteor, creating two craters.

"Sasuke! Naruto!" Sakura shrieked. Then there was a chuckle, Suou jumped down from the branch. "Well, as soon as I take care of you, I can go find the Akatsuki, so….. hit me with your best shot" he challenged her, half hearted. Sakura's back was still facing him, she had made sure Takuya was still alive, she had her head low, she removed her hand from Takuya's chest and stood up. "Kai…ho" she said in a low voice and her whole body exploded in green chakra.

Suou looked genuinely surprised, Sakura still had her head low as she formed some hand seals "Fuuton, Kaze Arashi (Wind Style, Windstorm)" she looked up, revealing her piercing green eyes as wind blew from all direction, Sakura's long hair whipped around wildly, Suou raised his eyebrows and smirked. He made a diamond with both his thumbs and index fingers and all the wind was suddenly direction into the diamond, he shaped Sakura's jutsu into a little ball and held it in his hand like a toy. "Hou…. What luck, bumping into Tsunade-hime's apprentice…. Haruno, Sakura" he said with a smirk.

Sakura clenched her fist, "Once I capture you, I'll hand you over to the akatsuki" he let out a sinister chuckle. "I'll be welcomed in with open arms" he finished, then held on to Sakura's jutsu "I think it's about time I return this to you" as the last word escaped his mouth, he created a diamond with his fingers again, this time, Sakura's jutsu sat in the middle of the diamond, wind shot out, just like Sakura's attack just now.

Sakura blocked it off with her chakra barrier. "Oi…." A voice sounded, along with the sound of crumbling rocks. "Don't…. lay a finger on Sakura" Sakura perked up "Sasuke…!" The smoke from the impact cleared, Sasuke stood in the middle of the crater, his body fell limp, he brushed the dirt off his hair. "Ah, Sasuke. You shouldn't move yet" said Sakura.

"Sakura, check on Naruto …" Sasuke lifted his head "I'll take care of this bastard" said Sasuke. Sakura heard Takuya get up. "Bastard…. I'll be sure to get you back…." Cursed Takuya, he walked past Sakura, and faced Suou boldly. Sakura couldn't say anything to stop them now, the only thing she can do now to help is to check on Naruto.

"You brats can still stand after getting hit by your own attack huh…." Suou smirked. Sasuke disappeared, Suou seemed to have seem through his move as he turned to his left were Sasuke threw a raid of kunai at him, Suou dodged it easily then his eyes moved back to Takuya who disappeared too, Sasuke and Takuya came running at Suou from both sides. "Naïve.."

Sasuke and Takuya swung their kicks at Suou, who blocked it off easily. Both of them looked shocked Suou was no ordinary man, being able to block both their superhuman kicks. But instead of him flying off, Sasuke and Takuya shot off, flying almost 100 meters back. "Sasuke! Takuya!" shouted Sakura. "Don't move!" Sasuke shouted from where he laid. "Don't….. do anything….. Sakura…" Sasuke's voice almost pleaded. He stood up again, and charged once again. Suou still hasn't moved from that spot, which pissed him off more.

Both Sasuke and Takuya went against him head on, but before Sasuke was able to lay a finger on Suou, he threw Takuya at him, the two boys crashed against each other, and ended getting thrown back again. "Dammit…. That damn bastard…. How dare he throw me…." Cursed Takuya, jumping back on his feet. "Oi, Hiroyama." Said Sasuke.

"Huh" Takuya answered roughly "Don't get in my way" Sasuke said with a heavy glare then an off again, leaving a really angry Takuya. 'This bastard's gonna try and capture Sakura….. I can't lose….' Thought Sasuke. His Kusanagi no Tsurugi lit up in sparks. Suou smirked at the challenge and faced him, Sasuke swung his sword upwards, missing Suou by a centimeter, Suou attempted to punch him, but Sasuke saw through it and moved back, but that was a feint. Sasuke's eyes widened as Suou appeared behind him. A kunai was ready to be stabbed into his back.

CLANG

Sasuke was facing Suou, his Chidorigatana trembling as he pushed it down on Suou, then it lit up in sparks, it immediately cut through Suou's kunai and dug itself into Suou's shoulder, blood sprayed out. Suou's eyes widened, he swung his legs in for a kick, Sasuke jumped back, dodging it. Just then a figure rushed past him, Takuya. "Katon, Housenka!" little fireballs shot at Suou. He smirked and absorbed them, but that was just a diversion. Takuya ended up below Suou and landed an upper kick to his chin, sending him flying upwards and forward. Nearly ramming into Sasuke. "Oi! Watch where you throw him" said Sasuke. "Don't tell me what do you, Uchiha" said Takuya. "You were the one-" Sasuke's eyes widened as he suddenly found kunai stabbed through his gut.

'When did he...'Suou's lips twisted into a smirk "Don't look down on me….. brats. You're a hundred years too early to be able to defeat me" said Suou. "Bastard" said Takuya, he drew his kunai and charged at Suou. Suou pulled out the kunai from Sasuke's gut and Sasuke fell on his knees, coughing blood. Suou directed his attention to Takuya, they broke out into a kunai battle. But at last, Takuya was hit on a vital spot, his side was stabbed by Suou and he fell face down as his blood ran out of his body, panting and unable to move. Suou chuckled "I need to thank you, kid. If it weren't for you jutsu, would have been in trouble. My wound's all heal now. See?" he pointed a finger at the wound that should've been there on his shoulder.

Sasuke's arms trembled as the energy drained out of him like his blood soon his body fell limp on the ground, no longer moving. "Sasuke! Takuya!" Sakura shrieked. Her pupils shrunk and her body was trembling. Then Suou walked towards her, Sakura felt his shadow on her and looked up and met his terrible silver eyes, that cry the thirst for blood. "Y-You Bastard….." she growled and threw a raid of kunais with paper bombs attached to it at Suou, making him jump back a few steps. Sakura's green chakra shot up into the sky, her whole body emitted a heavy amount of chakra, which made Suou more eager to capture her.

She suddenly disappeared, Suou's eyes rolled over to the side as he countered a punch from Sakura, only to realize, he couldn't hold it and he few back, crashing through tree after tree. He stood up and pushed a tree aside "How careless of me….. you're the apprentice of that damned slug princess. I shouldn't have underestimated you" said Suou, he looked at her and cracked his knuckles before charging at Sakura, who slammed her palm down into the ground "Doton, Hachi Josho Doryu (Earth Style, Eight Rising Earth Dragon)" dragons made out of hardened soil rose from the ground and crashed down upon Suou "your weakness is that you can't absorb particles any denser than liquid, this should deal some damage" said Sakura.

"Hou…. Not bad, for someone who only lived half my age" said Suou, he was in the middle of the eight earth dragons, but he had his arms crossed and he didn't look affected at all. Sakura gasped "How…." She breathed "My body has been trained to withstand strong impacts, and besides, if I drain out most of the chakra from the attack before it hits me then it won't have any effect now, will it" said Suou as the dragons crumbled. Sakura took a step back before Suou appeared before her and took her into a strangle hold behind her. Sakura let out a strangled scream. Suou chuckled sinisterly "Now the akatsuki awaits" he said.

Sakura felt her strength being drained out of her. "You have an amazing amount of chakra, don't you. Stubborn little brat, no matter how much you struggle, I already took most of your chakra" said Suou. Sakura's clouded eyes rolled over to check on Sasuke and Takuya, then Naruto. 'Good, their chakra seems to be stable. At least their life's not in danger' thought Sakura. Then three different coloured chakra shot up into the sky. Sakura's eyes widened.

"You will let go of her, now" a deep cool male voice instructed. "Bastard, You're gonna pay for knocking me out like that" Naruto's pissed off voice sounded. "I won't forgive anyone who tries to hurt Sakura-chan" Takuya's low smooth words were stained with poison. All three of their overwhelming chakra made Suou nervous. "You three….. you're going to regret standing up again" said Suou. "The one who's gonna regret anything is you, prepare yourself!" said Naruto, he charged. Suou held Sakura in front of him and he stopped dead in his tracks. "Sakura-chan!"

"Hahahaha! Any movement from either of you and this girl is as good as dead" said Suou. "I dare you to say that again" Takuya was suddenly behind Suou. Suou panicked and tried to stab Takuya with the kunai he was holding. Sasuke stole Sakura form Suou's grasp before Takuya blasted him away with his mysterious ability. Naruto shouted a war cry before pouncing on Suou like a predator. Sasuke put Sakura down on a branch and checked to see if she was severely injured, he let out a breath of relieve when he found out she only had a few bruises here and there. "Sasuke….?" Muttered Sakura.

Sasuke perked up "Just stay here, we'll take care of the rest" he assured her. Sakura felt dizzy, she couldn't feel anything other than Sasuke, she was too weak to even lift her head, that's how much chakra Suou drained from her. "Thank…. You" she managed with a breathless voice. Sasuke smiled "You have done your part, rest for now" he said and ruffled her hair, Sakura smiled before the darkness closed in.

Sasuke stood up and looked down at the heated battle between Suou, Naruto and Takuya. His cursed mark began to cover his body and dark purple chakra engulfed his body. He jumped down and held his hand in front of him his left hand held his right wrist, his finger closed in like he was holding an apple and white-blue sparks lit in his hand, he furrowed his eyebrows and the spark grew larger. "Naruto, Hiroyama!" he yelled at them. They jumped back from Suou and glanced at him, instantly, the powerhouses knew what he wanted to do.

It was time to show Suou their true strength. Suou has just recovered from some super powerful punches from Naruto and Takuya. He looked at the three of them that had him surrounded. He looked at Naruto, who had a harmless looking spinning sphere in his hand, thought the surrounding didn't quite agree with his theory as anything that closes in gets sliced to pieces, then his ears went to Sasuke who had overwhelming sparks of electricity in one hand, finally he turned to Takuya who had his eyes closed, Suou went for him. Big Mistake.

Takuya's eyes shot open, they wear a piercing shade of golden."Tenraigan!" the escapee suddenly felt a dark pulse hit him, his senses dulled and the next thing he knew, he was sent flying, his body ached in every possible way. He looked to his right, Sasuke. His left, Naruto. They had followed him up. "Chidori!" "Rasengan!" they both slammed it down on him, they sent him shooting down like a meteor, they followed him as he fell. A big crash was heard and the ground shook.

Meanwhile.

Sai had just finished rounded up the last of the escapees, he loaded them onto his giant ink bird and he suddenly felt the ground shake. "Dickless and the others must be going all out huh. Poor enemy" Sai jumped onto the bird and took off.

The smoke had cleared and Suou laid in the middle of the huge crater, Sasuke and Naruto of either side of it, backs facing each other. They turn and Naruto gave Sasuke a thumbs up. Sasuke smirked and their palms smacked against each other's. Takuya made his way towards them, all beat up like the rest of them, he managed a smile and shook hands with Naruto and Sasuke. They grinned at each other.

Sakura was watching them from the tree she was put on, she smiled.

"I still don't like you guys" said Takuya. Their handshake ended and they were back to being enemies. Sakura tried to move her body, limb by limb and soon her whole body was functional again, she got on her feet, feeling proud of herself.

Before she slipped and fell "Eep!"

A leave floated down onto the ground….

"Oh-to…."

Sakura was in Sasuke's arms their eyes were locked as a soft breeze hit them, Sasuke swallowed hard, as Sakura's shimmering eyes overwhelmed him.

_Thonk_

A rock was thrown at his head

"Sasuke you bastard! Let go of Sakura-chan!" yelled Naruto, angrily. Shaking his fist at him from a distance. Sasuke's face remained dark, then he started emitting a very strange aura, he put Sakura down and turned around to face Naruto. "You looking for a fight huh, loser!" he yelled at him. Naruto slammed his forehead against his "I'll take you on!" challenged Naruto, the two boys started pushing against each other, gritting their teeth and try to kill each other, soon the fight became a messy ball of smoke. Sakura watched in awkwardly then sighed. Takuya took that chance to get closer to Sakura.

Slowly, step. By step. Too slow. Someone took him by the shirt and dragged him into the fight too. Sakura laughed as she clutched her stomach, Sai's ink bird swooped down, and he jumped down, the bird went back into the scroll. "Hou…. Having fun now, are we" he said in his monotone voice. "Ara, Sai-kun. What took you so long" said Sakura. "Because of some _slacking _teammates, I had to round up the rest of the prisoners by myself" he said, slightly irritated.

Sakura swallowed hard, guilty of not being able to do anything. "Hehe, we accidentally bumped into Akizen Suou….. it took us awhile, but we managed to take him down" said Sakura, motioning towards the huge crater. "You killed him?" said Sai.

"I-I don't think so…. I still sense some chakra in him." Said Sakura. "I'll bring the dead man to the prison then, you guys can head back now" said Sai, unraveling his scroll, a bird flew out and he jumped out. Sakura waved him goodbye and attempted to split the fight. She sucked in and walked toward the rolling ball of smoke. "Three of you, cut it out!" she scolded. The fighting froze, Sasuke was pulling on Naruto's cheek as Naruto did the same to him, Takuya was strangling Sasuke as his leg was jabbed in Naruto's stomach. Sasuke was stepping on Takuya's foot.

"Sakura-chan…" said Takuya and Naruto. "Let's go home" she smiled. The guys blushed and got on their feet.

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**I know it's not a very good chapter, I just wanted to introduce Sasuke's new love rival. Thanks for reading. Don't forget to review, the next chapter will be a treat to InoShika supporters. I'm pretty busy these days cause of school, but no worries. I'll definitely finish what I started so please be patient and don't leave me. See you guys next time.**

Next Chapter: Fight, Denial, Abduction

"Sakura~ –hic- Shikamaru's such a jerk!"

"I think we should help them"

"Hah? Why should I go to apologize to that troublesome woman"

"They plan on finding the secrets of the InoShikaCho combination"

"Dammit Ino, where are you…"


	6. Fighting, Denial, Abduction

**Hey again guys, What's up. This chapter's a little too long. And it took longer than I expected. So it was a little rushed. But enjoy and let me know what you think. **

* * *

**Fighting, Denial, Abduction**

At the Uchiha Manor, Sakura was going through the books in the Uchiha library, reading through every book she came in touch with, she was walking around with a book in her hands when she bumped into a shelf, and the most unusual thing happened the shelf turned around 360 degrees, taking Sakura with it. Sakura let out a little squeak before tumbling into what looked like a secret chamber, she woke up with her head at the end of the stairs and half her body still on the stairs and the book on top of her head. "I…tte…." She groaned and pushed herself off in pain. Then shook her head, making the book on her head to fall off.

Sakura opened her eyes and let them adjust to the dark "Where…. Am I?" she muttered to no one in particular. She got on her feet and dusted herself, she decided to do a little exploring "Looks like a secret chamber" she giggled "I wonder what's hidden here" excitement bubbled in her. She picked up her book and continued down the dusty tunnel. Then she came to a dead end, it was an old fashioned woodened door. She gave the door a light push, but it didn't budge. A little harder, no movement. Sakura put her weight on the door and it still didn't move.

The sound of wood being snapped into a million pieces echoed through the tunnel. Sakura had just inflicted a bone crushing punch onto the poor door **(- a rhyme!) **Sakura stood at the foot of the door, looking proud of herself, she carefully maneuvered through the wood pieces, because she wasn't wearing any shoes, it was dusty old room that looked like….. a study room. But it was old fashioned, as there was more scrolls than books, she looked to the side and found a switch next to the entrance, Sakura could see everything clearly now, the room wasn't that dusty, it just didn't look like it had been used recently.

"I wonder who's room is this….." said Sakura, looking up at the mountain of scrolls, then she moved over to the desk, where a few scroll were laid on the table. There was a book that attracted Sakura's attention, probably because it was the only book on the table. She opened it and her eyes immediately widened. "This is…..!" she said in an alarmed voice.

_Sasuke._

Sakura tilted her head in confusion "Sasuke…?" she said. She was looking at an album of Sasuke's most of it, the first picture was a picture of baby Sasuke being carried by Itachi. Then second picture showed an older Sasuke, he was probably taking his first steps as he had his hands on the wall, looking very unstable. Sakura giggled "Sooo cute" she flipped to the next page was a picture of him holding on to a kunai, he looked around the age of 3 and he was able to take on a perfect battle stance with a kunai, she could see the changes in his features.

And the 4th was a picture of "Is that…. Naruto…?" Said a very shocked Sakura. Looks like Sasuke and Naruto had already started their war since they were 4. Naruto and Sasuke both had their arms cross and a very angry **(Adorable)** expression. Their shoulders were brushing, but they were looking away from each other. Sakura laughed. The other one was a picture of Naruto and Sasuke fighting, they were pulling on each other's cheeks, neither of them looked like they were willing to let go.

Then the next picture was a sequel, because it showed that Itachi bashed both Naruto and Sasuke's head together. Then the next picture showed the happy ending where Naruto and Sasuke passes out with two smoking lumps of their heads. Sakura laughed then flipped to the next page. But almost immediately she felt heavy at heart, almost depressed. It was a picture of Sasuke laying his head on the table, his body was there, but his eyes showed that he was deep in thought, his eye brows furrowed and he was obviously unaware that someone had taken a picture of him.

Sasuke never really smiled in any of the other pictures anymore, Sakura closed the book and looked down "That must be when his parents left…." She muttered in a soft tone. She herself felt close at tears, but she saw something sticking out of the page, she pulled it out and revealed a picture of him that looked like it was taken recently, as he was seen with his new look, she then knew who was the master mind behind all these pictures, she smiled and walked out of the room. This time carrying two books with her, the one she brought down, and the album. She made it up the stairs and back to the wall that ate her, she decided to give the side of the wall a little kick and that did the trick, the wall turned again and pushed her back into the mansion, though she still stumbled a little after she was back in.

She put the book back to the shelf and brought the album out of the library and set out to look for Sasuke, she check his room and he wasn't there, so there was only one other place he could be, the lake. She ran through the hallways and passed a window, then she paused and took a few steps back, she saw Sasuke, standing at the edge of the wooden walkway then he stepped lightly onto the water. Sakura hurried down the stairs when she reached the back door, she hid her chakra as much as she could then stepped light outside and onto the wooden walk way, but after she made it halfway Sasuke called out "Why are you sneaking up on me, Sakura" he turned his head to look at her. To his surprise, Sakura was grinning like a slyly, as if she had some secret weapon.

"You're scaring me, Sakura" he raised an eyebrow before Sakura opened the book, revealing all his childhood pictures Itachi had taken till now. His eyes widened "W-Where did you get that?" he asked, almost panicking. "It's a secret" she said, but Sasuke was fast he had already taken the album from Sakura and quickly scanned through it, the further he flipped, the redder his face got. _Itachi is so dead_. "Ah Sasuke, no fair!" whined Sakura as she tried to grab it back, but he had lifted it above high above her as he made sure she can't jump high enough to get the album by putting his hand on her shoulder and pushing her down every time she jumps.

"C'mon Sasuke, you look great. Now give it here" said Sakura as she tries to get it. "No way, it's my photos, I get to do whatever I want with it" said Sasuke. "But you're going to burn it out of existence" said Sakura

"Oh, how ever did you find out" said Sasuke in a sarcastic tone. Sakura pouted and Sasuke smirked, looking very proud of himself, then the most unpredictable thing happened. One moment he was smirking his victory away, and the next moment Sakura stole a kiss from his cheek, he blushed every possible shade of red, his body went numb and he dropped the book without knowing it.

Sakura smiled and ducked under his arm to grab the album before it hit the floor and jumped onto the water, she smiled "You let your guard down, Sasuke" she said, almost mockingly. Sasuke shook his head and got it together, but it was already too late, Sakura had stolen it back. "That's low, Sakura" he smirked. Sakura hugged the album to her chest and took a step back "Now now, Sasuke. Think about it, are you sure you want to destroy this? After all the trouble Itachi-san went through to take those pictures" said Sakura. "I'll kill Itachi next, now hand it over. Sakura" said Sasuke.

Sakura shook her head. Sasuke appeared behind her and put an arm around her waist to keep her from running then the other one tried to yank the album out of her hands **(I like this scene)** Sakura giggled and tried to escape from his grasp "Give it here, Sakura" Sasuke said once again. Sakura wasn't surrendering. She managed to break free and made a run for it, but not before she kicked the water, making it splash all over Sasuke.

She ran through the village with Sasuke close behind her. She looked back to check the distance between them then she sensed another chakra, coming in fast. She was about to jump to the side. Too late.

BAM

Sakura and the girl rammed into each other, they both fell back a few feet back. "Sakura…!" called out Sasuke. Sakura winced and rubbed her sore head "Ow….." she groaned, that was the second time today. She opened her eyes and looked to see who she bumped into "Ino-chan?" said Sakura, but Ino was rubbing her eyes and sniffling. Was she…. Crying?

Sasuke helped her up "Is that…. Ino?" he said. Sakura got up and hurried over to Ino, of course she didn't let go of the album, much to Sasuke's disliking. "I'm sorry, Ino-chan. Does it hurt anywhere?" said Sakura, worriedly. Ino looked up at Sakura, teary eyed like a child. Before jumping at Sakura and knocking her off her feet as Ino wrapped her arms around her "Sakura~ -hic- Shikamaru's such a jerk" she sobbed then her sobs became wails.

Sakura sweatdropped and helped her stand "A-Alright Ino-chan. Just calm down, Let's talk about this, do you want to come over to Uchiha manor?" Sakura said in a soft and comforting tone. Ino nodded then Sakura put her arm around Ino, and led her towards the way she came from, Sasuke stood there with his arms cross, he raised an eyebrow then took out his hand and motioned Sakura to give him the album. Sakura gave him an unbelieving look, one of his friends- well maybe not exactly his friend, more like. His friend's female teammate was crying for some reason-that-was-going-to-be-revealed-later and all he could do was ask for the album back.

Sakura mouthed the words "No" and "Way" which, when put together, makes the ultimate rejection to everything. Sasuke just shook his head, he'll get it back later.

After they reached the manor, Sakura let Ino in, they went up to Sakura's room. Sasuke didn't follow, it'd just be plain awkward if he did, so he decided to go back to what he was doing in the lake again. How typical of him.

Sakura had to sweep off all the books on her bed before she invited Ino in. Ino wrapped herself in Sakura's sheets and continued crying. "Having problems with Shikamaru?" said Sakura. Ino looked up to see Sakura's stunning jade eyes, they were so wise, she felt like she could talk to her about anything. Ino simply nodded. "What happened" said Sakura, sitting next to Ino.

"It started this morning" Ino wiped away her tears

_Flashback_

_Ino was searching the village for Shikamaru, she needed to ask him for his side of the report of yesterday's mission since they were separated, so each of them needed to report in their point of view and Shikamaru was the only one in the team that hasn't submitted the report. Ino knew how big of a lazy-ass Shikamaru can be and was going to nag the shit out of him till he actually writes the report._

_While she was searching for Shikamaru, she bumped into her ex-sensei, Sarutobi Asuma. "Ah, Asuma-sensei." She called out to him. "Ino, you look like you just ran around the village" said Asuma. It was true, Ino was breathing rather heavily. She gave him a smile "I was looking for Shikamaru, have you seen him around, Sensei" she said. _

"_Well, no. But there's only one place Shikamaru can be when he's not on missions" said Asuma, he looked up to the top of the building. Of course! Shikamaru's favorite cloud watching spot, she didn't she think of that. Ino snapped her fingers "The rooftop, of course! Thanks sensei." Said Ino, she didn't plan on using the stairs, Asuma smiled 'Kids…. So young' he thought then the turned around, what he didn't expect was when Ino stood horizontally on the wall, half way up the building and said "Say hello to Kurenai-sensei for me" _

_Asuma's head immediately swung to the wall that Ino was standing on, she winked at him and jumped up to the top. Asuma starred in confusion at first, 'Now how did she know that' he thought. Before shoving his hands in his pockets and walking away with a grin on his face._

_When Ino landed on the rooftop, she walked over to where Shikamaru was taking a nap, which was under the aluminum roof as you all know, she sucked in a load of breath…._

"_SHIKAMARU! GET UP!" _

_Shikamaru's eyes slowly opened, he had the What-The-Hell-Do-You-Want-Woman-You're-Annoying face. "What do you want, Ino" he said roughly. "Tsunade-sama wants your report" said Ino, her hands on her hips. _

"_I'll do them later" Shikamaru closed back his eyes and began snoring. Ino sucked in again "DO THE REPORT NOW!" _

_A vein popped up on his head as he sat up, his eyes closed as his scratched the back of his head then he opened them, his eyes darkened "You're annoying" _

_Ino felt her heart gain five thousand pounds, this was the first time Shikamaru had ever called her annoying with such a scary face, she couldn't help the tears welling up in her eyes. She had to quickly turn away and jump off. _

_End of Flashback_

"And that's what happened…." Sniffed Ino. Sakura grinned, Ino was having trouble getting close to Shikamaru "I see the problem" said Sakura, then a light bulb appeared above her head. "Wait here for a second, Ino-chan" she said and walked over to the window, after managing to maneuver over the forest of books and opening the window.

She took out a kunai and threw it at Sasuke, who was meditating on the water. One his eyes opened and rolled over to the side where Sakura's kunai was coming in fast. The kunai was about to stab his cheek but suddenly, his hand appeared in a blink, and the kunai was clipped in between his fingers. He looked over to Sakura's and gave her a Can't-You-Think-Of-A-Normal-Way-To-Get-Someone's-Attention look.

Sakura motioned him to come, he sighed and suddenly he was standing horizontally next to Sakura's window. "What is it" he said, simply. Sakura looked straight ahead and propped her head up on the window sill with elbow. "I need a favor from you" she smiled "Get Shikamaru to apologize to Ino-chan, or at least get him her" said Sakura.

"Hah? Why do that?" he said. "Ino-chan….. she really likes Shikamaru. I can see, whenever she mentions Shikamaru, her eyes…. Are different" Sakura sounded dead serious, there was a pause then she turned to Sasuke and grinned "I think we should help them" she said in a bright tone. Sasuke sighed "Alright fine, but I won't guarantee his safety, I don't have that much patience" he said. Sakura chuckled "I'll just trust you with that. You can bring Naruto too" she said "Fine" and then he disappeared.

Sakura straightened. "Now then, Ino-chan. How about we do some girl stuff" said Sakura. Ino looked at her, her tear stained face looked innocently confused.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was walking in the village, looking around for signs of Naruto and Shikamaru. 'I should probably go get Naruto first….. that guy would probably be…..' his thoughts were cut off when he spotted Naruto coming out of Ichiraku. 'I should've known….' Thought Sasuke. "Oh Sasuke! What are you doing here, where's Sakura-chan" he said, jogging over to Sasuke. "Sakura wants us to get Shikamaru to apologize to Ino" he said.

"Why, what did he do?" said Naruto. Sasuke shrugged "Who knows, but Ino's crying about it." Said Sasuke. "That's not cool, Shikamaru. Let's go, Sasuke!" Naruto commanded and jumped off. "Don't order me around, loser" said Sasuke. Naruto looked back and yelled at Sasuke.

Sakura was giving Ino a lesson about the male species.

"I've read several books about a guy's behavior towards girls, it usually says if they are rude or seem indelicate towards that girl, it usually means they have deep affections for the girl." Said Sakura. Ino nodded thoughtfully "Oh I see…. So that's how it is….." then an image of Shikamaru's pissed off face and darkened eyes, and the serious edge in his tone that she's never heard him use on her before. Ino looked down, her confidence totally vanished.

Sakura let out a soft breath and smiled softly "Let's go for a little walk, shall we?" invited Sakura. Ino looked up before Sakura grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the house. "A-Ah, Sakura wait-"

Naruto and Sasuke had driven Shikamaru to a corner. Maybe not a corner, they just surrounded him. "Oi Shikamaru! Get up!" Naruto was squatting above his head and leaning down on him. Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched but he didn't get up. "I said get up!" Naruto yelled in his ear. Shikamaru shot up "What is it? Ino!" he shouted as he got up. All he got was awkward stares from Naruto and Sasuke. They began snickering "Oi Shikamaru, did you just call me Ino?" said Naruto, holding back a laugh.

Shikamaru turned red "What do you guys want" he said calmly. "You're going to apologize to Ino" said Sasuke. "Hah? Why should I go apologize to that troublesome woman?" protested Shikamaru. "She was crying to Sakura" Sasuke said. "Yeah Shikamaru! Making a girl cry isn't manly!" said Naruto. Shikamaru looked surprised "That woman, was crying…?" he said. Sasuke gave a nod. Shikamaru looked down "I snapped, that's all. It's not like, I was really angry at her" he muttered.

"Well, you'd better go apologize to her before she decides to hate you for the rest of your life" Naruto stated bluntly. Shikamaru tensed up, Naruto took advantage of that, he sat down next to Shikamaru and grinned "Could it be….. that you have a secret crush on Ino?" mocked Naruto. A vein popped up on Shikamaru's head "Shut it, Naruto. It's none of your business" Shikamaru attempted to continue sleeping, he laid back down.

A kunai was thrown right next to his head, he opened his eyes and looked to the side then narrowed his eyes at Sasuke "Just so you should know, I have permission to bring you in by force" Sasuke said. The two boys shot challenging looks at each other for awhile, before Naruto cut in. "What is it, a staring contest? We're supposed to go back to Sakura-chan, did you forget that? Sasuke" mocked Naruto. Before Sasuke got pummel Naruto, Shikamaru cut in "All right, I'll go. It's not like I can win against the Uchiha prodigy." Said Shikamaru, he got up and dusted himself.

Naruto thrusted a fist to the air "Alright! Mission success!" he shouted. But Sasuke and Shikamaru had already left. "Oi! That's low! Leaving me here!" he shouted and jumped off.

Meanwhile, Sakura was strolling through the village with Ino, Sakura was looking around and taking in the bustling crowds rushing around, fellow shinobi(s) jumping around. Ino only looked down and walked quietly, but something seemed to have caught her eye. It was a couple, the woman was fixing the man's forehead protector then the man gave a light kiss on the forehead. Ino blushed and looked away.

Sakura lead her to the abandoned park near the entrance of the village. Ino remembered this park, it was the first time she spoke to Shikamaru. Since their fathers were friends, they were introduced to each other since they were babies along with Chouji, but Shikamaru never spoke to her, he was more close to Chouji. Honestly she found him kind of weird, he was lazy to do everything and he never does anything.

But apparently they had something in common, they liked it here, the other kids found the park boring as it only consisted of a tree swing and a slide. Ino was feeling down after being ignored by Sasuke again, but Shikamaru was lying on the slide when she came walking by, he caught her crying on the swing and comforted her.

"Brings back memories…." Muttered Ino. "Does it? Then my intuition must be correct" said Sakura. Ino looked at her "Eh?" Sakura smiled "I felt attracted to this place for some reasons, so I thought I'd bring you here"

Ino collapsed. "Ino-chan?" said Sakura, alarmed. She shook Ino then checked her pulse, she just lost conscious. Sakura checked her chakra, 'Her chakra's extremely exhausted, but why didn't I sense it before…..' thought Sakura, her eyes widened and she threw a kunai behind her. "Who's there!" she growled. A woman's voice chuckled "Interesting girl, you are" she spoke and walked out from behind the bushes.

"What did you do to Ino-chan!" Sakura demanded, she was armed and ready to dodge any attack that the woman throws at her. "If I'm not mistaken, you are that Haruno girl that Tsunade-hime's training" she said, totally ignoring Sakura's question. "Answer my question!" snapped Sakura. The woman looked around her late 30's, she scowled at Sakura "How rude, I only temporarily put her chakra in an exhausted state. There's no need to scream about it" said the woman.

"You're not from the village, what are your intentions" said Sakura. "We've come to pick up a little package, that's all. We'd be happy to leave, if you hand over the missy over there" said the woman, she licked her lips. Sakura threw her kunai, the woman easily caught it in between her fingers "You know, I hate goodie-two-shoes like you" the woman sounded dangerous, she lifted her feet and tapped it on the ground. Sakura jumped up and avoided the ground that was trying to bind her. "Good job avoiding that, but the gravity is fixed" Before Sakura knew it, the ground shot up, Sakura turned sideways, but it still grazed her waist. She landed rather roughly, she stumbled a little. There was something weird about her body. She felt, lightheaded. 'This is bad…! I've been-' a voice cut into her thoughts "I laced that last attack with poison, you won't last another 30 seconds….. I told you to hand her over, you could've at least saved yourself" said the woman, as she smirked…. Sakura fell.

"Oi oi, You didn't kill her, did you?" this time it was a male voice, the woman huffed away "Course not, I merely put her to sleep for the next 2 weeks" she said, leaving the two unconscious girls to the man. Surprisingly, he carried both of them on his shoulders and jumped away. As they passed the entrance, the shinobi(s) that was on shift at the gate, were either dead or fatally injured.

'Shikamaru….'

Just then, Shikamaru was being kidnapped by Sasuke cause he decided to turn back when they were halfway back to the Uchiha mansion. He perked up "Oi Sasuke, put me down" said Shikamaru. "What is it, need to use the bathroom? We're almost to the Uchiha Manor. Try to hold it in" said Naruto. A vein popped up "I'm going to pretend you never asked that…." He trailed off "Hold it! What I meant to say was, I think something's up" he said.

"Nice try, you're not escaping" said Sasuke. "Something might have happened to Ino" said Shikamaru, his tone was dead serious. Sasuke stopped and set him down "What do you mean" he said. "Oi Sasuke, what are you doing, he's going to escape you know" said Naruto.

"Just now, I heard Ino's voice. She sounded afraid" said Shikamaru. "Hah? What kinda excuse is that. Isn't that just proving to us that you like Ino?" said Naruto. "You be quiet" said Sasuke, Naruto huffed. "I think something's happened to both of them- no, I'm positive" said Shikamaru. "So what are we going to do" said Naruto. "For now, we split up to look for them. I'm go back to the manor and check things out" said Sasuke.

Naruto and Shikamaru nodded and they jumped off to where they're supposed to be.

As Sasuke ran back to the manor, he prayed silently for Sakura to be there. Shikamaru was searching Ino's favourite places one after another. Naruto checked the bookstores for Sakura.

Sasuke didn't bother using the door, he jumped in throught Sakura's window "Sakura…!" but she was nowhere to be found. "Tch, dammit" cursed Sasuke, he was about to leave before he spotted something stabbed into the table, it was Sakura's precious red string kunai, she usually used it to pass on chakra messages to people who touch it. Sasuke pulled it out, and immediately he felt Sakura's chakra flowing in.

'_Ino-chan doesn't look very well, I'm taking her to the abandoned park near the village entrance, bring Shikamaru there. Sorry for troubling you' _

Sasuke kept Sakura's kunai and left immediately.

Shikamaru was getting frustrated 'This search isn't going anywhere….. where else does Ino like going…' then it hit him. 'There's only one other place'

Shikamaru was closer, he reached there a few minutes faster that Sasuke, and was already inspecting the scene. "You're here already huh" said Sasuke. "Good timing, Sasuke. I need your help in something" said Shikamaru. "What is it"

"Use your sharingan and check the ground for any trail of chakra" said Shikamaru. Sasuke blinked and his sharingan appeared "There was definitely a battle here" he kneeled down to the path of soil that had chakra lingering in it. He brushed it with his fingertips "There's a little poison in it too" he said. Shikamaru came out from the bushes with a kunai in hand "There was footprints behind there and this" Shikamaru tossed a kunai to Sasuke. He caught it and examined it. "This must be either Sakura's or Ino's" said Sasuke.

"No, It's Sakura's. Ino was taken out without being able to fight" said Shikamaru. Sasuke looked at him in a questioning way "How do you know that" he asked. Shikamaru knelt down to the area beside the patch of soil that had chakra in it "The ground on this area has been agitated if you look properly, it's in the shape of a person" said Shikamaru then he picked up a strand of hair "This is a strand of Ino's hair" he stated.

"Nothing less from the smartest shinobi amongst rookie 9" said Sasuke. "That sure brings back memories" said Shikamaru. "We'll need to report this to the Hokage" said Sasuke. Shikamaru looked at him "What's with that calm reaction, Sakura's been taken too you know" said Shikamaru.

"No, Sakura got herself captured on purpose. That girl doesn't go down easily, what the enemies were really after was Ino-" Sasuke was cut off "They're after the InoShikaCho combination" said Shikamaru. "Yeah…. Your techniques are some of Konoha's forbidden jutsus after all" said Sasuke.

Just then Naruto came stumbling in, breathing heavily. "Ah, You two are here already? Dammit, I thought for sure I'd be the first one to think about this place" said Naruto. "We're going to report to the Hokage, let's go idiot" said Sasuke, as he ran off with Shikamaru. "What? What's going on? I just got here!" he shouted after them.

Meanwhile….

'So you realized huh, Sasuke' thought Sakura, her face was turning pale and beads of sweat were rolling down her pale skin. 'I'm sorry but…. I can't lead you any further….' Those were Sakura's last thoughts as the poison finally overwhelmed her.

The woman stared intently at Sakura, her suspicion on her creeping up but she decided to drop it.

"What? Sakura and Ino has been kidnapped?" Tsunade stood up. "What? Sakura-chan and Ino-pig has been kidnapped?" Naruto shouted. "Yeah…" nodded Shikamaru. Tsunade sat down and sighed "We don't have any available search teams to dispatch right now, plus Chouji and Chouza-san went off to gather ingredients for the family pills today…." Tsunade scowled.

"Sakura left a trail of chakra when they took her, I can lead" said Sasuke. "You three want to go?" said Tsunade. "Please" Shikamaru and Sasuke bowed, Naruto quickly imitated sloppily. Tsunade sighed "You'd still go even if I said No right" she said with a smirk. The three straightened with their grinning faces. Tsunade propped her head up on the table, then stared intently at the three shinobi. After a moment pause Tsunade smiled and stood up "Right, Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke. You three are to form a team and rescue Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura. Find out the enemies intention, and destroy their base. But remember, your top priority is to save your teammates, if you can't destroy their base, come back and we'll think of something." Said Tsunade.

The three nodded "Understand" Tsunade nodded her head in satisfaction "Now, I'm putting Shikamaru as Team leader, Now go!" commanded Tsunade and in a mere second, the three were gone and the window was left open.

The newly formed team stood at the village gate, "Right, Sasuke. You said Sakura left a trail of chakra, can you still see it?" said Shikamaru. Sasuke snorted "Don't look down on me" he said and activated his sharingan. "It's still there, but it's fading soon" said Sasuke. "Lead the way" said Shikamaru. "Try to keep up" Sasuke was gone, but so was Shikamaru and Naruto.

Sasuke managed to trace Sakura's to the far south of the village, closing in on the oceans of the fire country when he noticed that her chakra trail was getting weaker then it just suddenly cuts off, leaving the team in the middle of the forest, guideless.

"Why are you stopping Sasuke?" said Naruto, impatiently. "Her trail ends here, she must've lost consciousness here" said Sasuke. "So this is where it ends huh. " Shikamaru stepped up he knelt down to the ground before he scowled. "Something's not right" he said. Sasuke was searching the forest for anymore chakra to see if they're still nearby. Naruto jump down from the trees and landed next to Shikamaru "Look! They left footprints" he said but Shikamaru cut in "That's exactly why something's wrong"

Naruto raised an eyebrow "I don't get it" Shikamaru sighed and opened his mouth to say something but Sasuke spoke before him "These guys managed to take out 14 chuunins at the gate without drawing any attention or leaving anything trace of them, why would they suddenly leave footsteps" he said without looking down on him.

"That is a bit weird…." Said Naruto. "We were tricked, and so was Sakura" said Shikamaru. Sasuke deactivated his sharingan "I don't see any signs of chakra for the next 30 kilometer radius" said Sasuke, clearly trying to hide his frustration and concern with his poker face. "They used her to lead us the wrong way and after they were sure she was fully unconscious, they headed to the real direction " said Shikamaru.

"Great, just great. We have no idea where are we, and we lost track of Sakura-chan and Ino!" shouted Naruto. Sasuke sighed and looked over at Shikamaru who was still crouched down at the footstep he stayed there for what seemed like ages, Sasuke and Naruto had already came back from scouting the area. "You've been staying like that for hours Shikamaru, MOVE!" Naruto yelled at him.

Shikamaru punched the ground "Dammit, I can't think of anything….." he cursed. Sasuke scoffed "Some team leader…." Naruto turned to him "Sasuke!" he scolded. Shikamaru stood up, but he didn't face Sasuke "And _you_ can find a solution to this? They can be anywhere, and we don't have the slightest clue of which direction they went, I don't need to hear your witty comments!" snapped Shikamaru, it was the first time either of them have seen Shikamaru lose his temper like that "Can't even put aside the thought of Ino being killed and think of a way to find her, you're not worthy of ordering me around" Sasuke retorted.

Shikamaru took Sasuke by the collar, fist clenched and ready to throw a punch- 'Shikamaru' an image of Ino getting killed flashed his mind and he realized. Sasuke was right, all he was thinking about was Ino had been capture, and she's going to die. Shikamaru released Sasuke and took a step back "I'm sorry. I'm just…" he trailed off and tried to look for the word, till Sasuke gave it to him "Scared"

"Yeah…"

"Well, we can understand. Our teammate was captured too, you know" said Naruto, throwing his hands over his head. "You're not the only that's worried" said Sasuke. "I know, but this is the first time Ino's been abducted." He muttered. Sasuke and Naruto chuckled "You'll get used to it, maybe" said Naruto.

"We'll split up and search for any trails, go anywhere. And if you find something, send a bomb as a signal" ordered Shikamaru. "That's more like it" chuckled Naruto then each of them jumped off.

Both Ino and Sakura was chained up in a cellar at the enemies hideout. After Sakura heard the door slam, she tested out the chain. 'It's special chain designed to hold down chakra enforced muscle spans….. I won't be able to break it till I regain my energy'

Sakura turned to Ino "Ino-chan, you awake?" said asked quietly. Ino groaned little then lifted her head "a little dizzy, but I'm going to be fine" she assured. Sakura let out a breath of exhaustion "Looks like we're going to be here awhile" she muttered. "Ne, Sakura" Ino began breathlessly. "Hm?"

"Do you think Shikamaru's looking for us?" Ino asked with her head down. Sakura looked up "He's probably freaking out trying to find you" she chuckled "and I'm sure Sasuke and Naruto are with him" Sakura added. Then she noticed something shiny drip to the floor, it took her a moment before she realized it was a teardrop, from Ino.

"Ino-chan? A-are you crying…?" Sakura asked, a little nervous. Ino's chain began to clink with trembles "I don't want to die yet…." Ino's voice was filled with tremors. Sakura clutched her chains, but before she could say anything Ino cut in "I haven't had the chance to apologize to Shikamaru….." she said in a mere whisper, but Sakura could hear her just fine. "Ino-chan we-" Sakura began "I'm so pathetic aren't I….. I'm sorry"

"You are if you're giving up" said Sakura rather cheerfully. Ino looked over at Sakura, to her surprise she was smiling. "I know they're searching for us" Sakura looked at Ino "So don't give up, ne?" she smiled. Ino laughed lightly "I'm at a loss of words, Sakura…. I understand why people fall for you so easily now" she said.

"Eh?"exclaimed Sakura, confused. Ino shook her head "Nothing…" Sakura decided to let it slip "Let's get out of here, shall we?" Sakura asked casually. Ino looked at her as if she was crazy. Sakura began to pull at the chains.

At the present time…

Shikamaru scratched his head "Dammit Ino where are you…." He cursed. _'Shikamaru…..'_ His eyes widened and he look around "That was…. Ino.." he muttered. He hastily took out a kunai with a paper bomb tied to it and launched it into the sky. An explosion erupted in the sky, immediately claiming attention from the two boys in search, they dropped everything they were doing and arrive at the scene within minutes.

"Alright, what did you find" said Sasuke immediately after he arrived. "Ah! Teme you got here first!" shouted Naruto.

"I found out where are they" said Shikamaru. "How did you find out" asked Sasuke. Shikamaru swallowed and blushed a little "That doesn't matter, anyway just follow me" he said, jumping off.

Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other for a moment and both shrugged before jumping off after Shikamaru.

Sakura's body was completely covered in green chakra, she winced an eye, but slowly her eyes turned from bright green to a piercing jade, masked shinobi barged in only to get blow awake by an explosion of chakra, when they finally got back in, Sakura was no longer chained up and powerless, the shackles were still holding on to her wrist and ankles, the small fry shinobi trembled a little. "S-She ripped the chains straight from the wall…."

"What kinda of monster is she"

Sakura had her head down, but her whole body was coated with chakra. "That took more than I expected…" panted Sakura, but she quickly regained herself. The shinobi shook of any hesitation and charged at her. "Geh! All at once…?" said Sakura, then her eyes widened 'This chakra….' She took a swing at the chain and knocked down a group of shinobi. "Then in that case" Sakura muttered, her eyes started to close sleepily, but before they were able to shut completely they sprang back up and an enormous amount of chakra blew everything loose away and made a hole in the roof. 'Come on Sasuke…. See it…'

A few miles outside the hideout in the middle of the sea, the three noticed something exploding upwards. "I-Is that…. Chakra?" exclaimed Naruto, unbelievingly. Sasuke activated his sharingan and noticed that there was a huge source of chakra manifesting in the base they were about to infiltrate. "That's not any chakra, it's Sakura's!" he said, happy that she was doing alright considering how much chakra she has left.

"Sakura-chan! I'm coming!" Naruto announced loudly and charged straight forward. "Wait a minute Naruto" Shikamaru tried to stop him but Naruto didn't even look back. "Oi Sasuke we-" Shikamaru paused as he noticed that Sasuke too was long gone. "God those two never listen…."

Whilst those two were running, their eyes fixed on the base in chaos someone seemed to have blasted through the wall and rammed right into Naruto, knocking him backwards. "Uwah!"

They fell into the water. "Naruto!" shouted Sasuke, skidding to a stop. "Itte…. Something hit me…" said Naruto. Beside him, bubbles rose to the surface, the two boys eyed the area suspiciously, ready for anything that pops up, till a pink head rose from the water, her hands thrashing everywhere.

"Sakura!" "Sakura-chan!"

Sakura's eyes widened before she sank back down, the weight of the chains were too much in the water, she couldn't keep her head up. "Naruto!" Sasuke shouted "I know!" Naruto answered before he dove down into the water with Sasuke following behind him.

The two tried to lifted her, but the weight of the chains and the piece of the wall that stuck on the end was too much. Sasuke held his wrist as Naruto held Sakura from sinking any further. He opened his closed fists and electric sparked in his hand, he had to have total control or else it would easily spread out into the water. A blue spark line connecting to the ball of electric grew from it, and from there it spread out into for parts, each one slicing off the shackles on Sakura. Immediately, they brought her back to the surface. Sakura began coughing out water. "Ha…. I thought I was gonna die…" said Sakura, she climbed up and stood on the water and shook her head. Her hair bounced round elegantly, the guys couldn't take their eyes off.

She smiled at them "I knew you guys would come" she said, snapping the guys out of flower land. "Ah!" Sakura scream. The guys freak out and armed themselves "Ino-chan…. She's still inside!"

Just then Shikamaru ran past them and headed straight for the base. "Let's go!" said Sasuke. Naruto and Sakura nodded. When they entered the base through the hole in the wall Sakura made. Ino was out of her chains and was taken hostage by the woman kidnapper, Ruriko. She merely held a kunai to Ino's neck, she didn't threaten nor try to negotiate, she just grinned sinisterly then pulled Ino away. Before she disappeared, Ino cried out "Shikamaru!"

"Kh…"

The team had a whole army of shinobi, holding kunais at their necks "Either one of you move, and we'll slice everyone of your heads clean off the shoulders" threatened the leader of the shinobi subordinates. "Bastards…." Shikamaru said in gritted teeth, then he smiled "You lose" the team exploded in puff of smoke "Wha..?" the shinobi looked around as the smoke covered their vision.

Naruto's clones jumped in and started war with the confused shinobi as the real ones snuck in and went after the woman that had Ino. But they were intervened by a huge man. "You're not taking another step…. Ruri-nee told me not to let you" he said. "What's with this dude" said Naruto. "Must be an underling of the woman, cause he didn't come to the village" said Shikamaru.

"The amount of his chakra is terrifying, it's nearly as much as Naruto's" said Sakura. "Dammit, I didn't calculate this" said Shikamaru. "I'll take this guy on" said Naruto. Everyone looked at him "Sakura-chan, you said his chakra is nearly as much as mine right?" he said. Sakura nodded. Naruto cracked his knuckles "Then it's time I show you how big the difference between our skills are" he said with a smug grin "Go!"

"We leave it to you then, Naruto" said Shikamaru. The remaining three ran past the big guy. "I told you I won't let you pass!" the man yelled and jumped up, aiming to land a hit on Sakura, before an uppercut hit him clean under the face. "Let's see how you do, big guy" said Naruto. "Naruto!" Sakura called out. He looked at her "Good luck" she smiled. Naruto scratched the back of his head "Ehehe"

"Sakura, do you still sense Ino's chakra?" asked Shikamaru. "Yeah, she's just up front" said Sakura, as the corridor came to an end and they entered a sacred looking room, Ino was tied up to an iron wall that stood on in the middle of the room, her hands and legs were restrained, she was looking at them with terrified eyes, she couldn't say anything as she was gagged, but her eyes told them everything they needed to know, they were going save her, then destroy that woman, at least Shikamaru will.

But before they could do anything, Sasuke exploded in flames. Shikamaru and Sasuke gasped. Sasuke didn't move, the flames however, avoided him. "Tch, amateurs"

"Hee….. an Uchiha, interesting" said the man who carried Ino and Sakura to the base, Hiyure. The voice came from above, everyone looked up and saw him, standing on the ceiling. "Katon, Kitei no Hi (Fire Style, Ground's Fire)" Sasuke merely muttered and the flames surrounding him enlarged and shot up at Hiyure. He disappeared just as the flames were about to touch him, but instead it completely scorched the ceiling.

Hiyure appeared right in front of Sasuke and looked up and whistled "You're good" he said to his face. In a split second, Sasuke clashed his sword with Hiyure's kunai. "W-What's with this guy…" Shikamaru muttered. Then he heard a scream, his head immediately turned to Ino, Ruriko had her hand on Ino's forehead, she tried to shake it off but it wasn't any good, her shoulders were tensed up one of her eyes were squeezed closed and her pain looked severe.

"Let her go!" he shouted. Sakura formed some handseals but before she could finish the last one, a kunai was thrown at her, she had no choice but to break the seal and dodge it. Sakura narrowed her eyes at the man made of water rose from the ground, he looked…. Like Hiyure. But it wasn't.

Hiyure who was currently fighting Sasuke laughed "I see you've met the other me, Suiyure" he laughed then dodged Sasuke's electrocuting blade. "What…?"

Shikamaru tried to capture the woman with his shadow manipulating technique, but it seems instead of capturing her, he captured something that was in the ground, his eyes widened as a man of earth formed before his eyes. "What is it…" he said.

Black marks formed on Hiyure's body, Sasuke grew pale. "I can split my affinities to bodies…." He threw his head back and laughed. "Interesting, isn't it" he smirked. "They have the cursed marks!" said Sakura. Sasuke's jaw tightened at the thought of having that creepy slit eyed bastard's experiments in front of him, but he bit his expressions back and smirked "Interesting…. Huh" the sharingan slowly appeared in his eyes and his body emitted a eerie dark purple chakra as black markings appeared all over his body.

Sakura didn't have much chakra left, but she was sure she could finish this guy off before her kaiho runs out. She formed a seal "Kai-ho" her eyes burned green and her body was coated with bright green chakra. Shikamaru looked over at the two 'Good, the two are going all out. Now all I have to do is take out that guy and go after that woman' he thought as he had Doyure captured in his Kagemane no Jutsu, but when he turned back, Doyure had dissolved into the ground, and his jutsu was broken.

Shikamaru's eyes widened before jumping back and avoiding an uppercut from Doyure, Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, in his head were 6 plans ready to be executed but he needed the best and most effective one, and he got it.

He landed a few feet away from Doyure, Shikamaru threw a few kunais at him. Doyure melted into the ground and the kunais missed. This time, Shikamaru found two huge hands rising from the ground on either side of him he managed to dodge it in the nick of time, the hands came after him as he landed on the opposite side of where he was standing, he threw paper bombs at the hand and it exploded, taking out the fingers. The hand crumbled down.

Shikamaru felt the ground beneath tingle, Doyure shot up faster than Shikamaru could dodge, his punch sent him flying upwards, he landed with a hard thud. His back flat on the ground and body unmoving. "How does it feel, getting hit by a full powered punch from the earth itself" Doyure's deep voice laughed.

Shikamaru got up and began coughing. "Huh…. You still can get up?" Doyure said, irritated. Shikamaru looked at him, then smirked "You seem to have something here" he pointed at his own stomach. "Huh?" Doyure looked and there were two kunais stuck in his stomach "When did these-" he paused and remembered. Those were the two first kunais Shikamaru threw and him and missed, but in truth Shikamaru had planned for that to happen after the kunais had landed on the ground, he needed to lure Doyure to the spot where the kunais will get stuck on his body when he materialized and to prevent him from moving after he did, Shikamaru purposely got hit and fed his arrogance as the paper bombs wrapped around the kunai sank in his body.

"You lose…." Shikamaru muttered and he activated the bomb. You could say the battle ended with a _bang_. Hiyure flinched, not only because Sasuke was beating the him into a pulp, but he lost a quarter of his life. Sasuke had his Kusanagi no Tsurugi jabbed through his stomach as he pinned him onto the wall.

Sakura was just finishing off Suiyure with "Sandagamae Inshi no Ookami!" Sakura shouted, aiming her clawed hand at the beaten Suiyure. And that ended for him.

Shikamaru caught Ruriko in his Kagemane no Jutsu and made her step back "Tch, unless." She licked her lips "If you want something, you have to do it yourself" she smirked but before she could shed out of her skin, Shikamaru added "Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu (Shadow Neck Bind Technique)" the woman was totally immobilized. Some part of Shikamaru wanted to destroy that woman, but he knows he has to turn her in to the village for interrogation.

Ruriko struggled at first, but she suddenly gave in "How pathetic….. I wasn't even able to learn the technique from the girl. Her mentality is admirable…" she smirked "I'm sorry I wasn't able to get what you want…. Orochimaru-sama" she muttered under the hearing range of others. Then glared at Shikamaru "What are you waiting for, kill me" she urged him.

"Sakura, could you bind her" he said. Sakura nodded as she could still manage one more technique, she formed the seals "Doton, Tsuchi Shibari (Earth Style, Earth Binding) the ground beneath Ruriko rose and wrapped around her whole body, creating a dirt mummy out of her. Shikamaru's shadow returned and he immediately ran to Ino. Before he could touch the chains, lightning shot at them, slicing them off carefully, Ino's body fell limply as Shikamaru managed to hold her up.

Her legs were on the ground, Shikamaru held up the rest of her sloppily and lowered her, he looked over at Sasuke, thanking him silently. Sasuke merely turned away and turned the Kusanagi out of Hiyure and let his bleeding (Not dead) body fall to the ground.

Sakura look at him with sympathy. "Don't worry, he's not gonna die" said Sasuke, slashing his sword to get rid of the blood then sheathing it. "You never change" said Sakura, shaking her head. Naruto came stumbling in "It's alright, I'm here. You're saved" he said between pants. "Oh, you won. Good job Naruto" said Sakura. "Aw, it's over…?" whined Naruto.

"Yeah, You can help carry them back to the village" said Sasuke, nodding his head at the bleeding man next to him. "Isn't he dead?" said Naruto, raising a brow. Sasuke rolled his eyes "I'm not that heartless, he's alive" he said.

"Well, in that situation. I'd rather _be_ dead" said Naruto. Sasuke unsheathed his sword and attempted to stab him to prove to them that he has a heart, till he was stopped "Wait wait!" Naruto and Sakura shouted, waving their hands around. Sasuke sheathed his sword with a smirk.

Ino's eyes fluttered open "Shikamaru….?" She said breathlessly. Her face expressed her fatigue but even so, she smiled at him.

"I'm sorry" they said in unison. Shikamaru looked surprised "No, I snapped. You were just following orders" said Shikamaru. "But I didn't bother to think about how tired you were" said Ino, she chuckled "It's funny, I'm so tired now….." she breathed and her eye began to fall. Shikamaru panicked for a moment, but noticed she was just falling unconscious, he lifted her legs and carried her properly now.

Sasuke and Naruto destroyed what's left of the base and they headed home.

_Konohagakure _

Shikamaru brought Ino straight to the hospital while Team Kakashi headed to the Hokage's office.

After they handed the kidnappers to Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force they reported their side of the mission before they headed their separate ways back home. When Sakura and Sasuke reached home, Sakura's legs gave away. Sasuke held her up "Easy there…" he helped her up. "Sorry but can you get me up to my room…? The poison hasn't been neutralized" she said. Sasuke's heart started to beat faster, he carried her up to her room, Sakura went over to her drawer and picked out a light blue antidote, and stabbed the capsule into her thigh.

She let out a breath in relief then sat down on her chair. Sasuke took out her red strapped kunai and put it on her table and attempted to leave, till he saw his life album. Sakura reached out and grabbed it. Sasuke held out his hand and looked at her in a way that say _Give-It-Here _. Sakura merely smiled and shook her head.

The next thing was unexpected, as Sasuke leaned over and implanted a kiss-

On her lips.

Sakura's eyes widened but she didn't resist. She felt Sasuke's hand move to grab the album, and when she pulled it out of his reach he straightened. It took him awhile before he noticed what he just did. Sakura was slowly turning red, she remembered what Ino had told her about kisses, it was a sign of affection between lovers. But they weren't lovers, she wasn't even sure if she loved him, romantically. Sasuke took a step back "I'm sorry…." He muttered then disappeared, his face turning redder and redder. Sakura held the album to her chest, then touched her lips.

Next Chapter: The Konoha Festival

"We're going shopping"

"You've never been to a festival, have you"

"How do you expect to impress the boys that way, especially with your looks, it'd be a waste if you didn't go"

"You wanna see her in a yukata, don't you. Imagine what she'd look like in one"

"Cute, Isn't she and she's all yours"

* * *

**So…. I've been reading over the prequel. And honestly, I hated it and I laughed at myself for that…. 'piece of art' I was…. Unbelievably naïve and yes the mary sue was pretty bad. I've been thinking of editing it and reposting it…. But that would take up sometime and I don't know if I should, so I'm asking you guys, if I should edit and repost the prequel or not. Do me that favor will ya? **


	7. Konoha Festival

**I'm sooooo sorry guys. I've been extremely busy with -ehem- certain things. It's a surprise till the end of the chapter. And I have just received my first death threat in fanfiction by one of my dear anonymous reviewer, StorySlave. **

**This chapter is dedicated to her!**

**Disclaimer: Do not own Naruto**

**Forgive my grammar and spelling mistakes, I'm a horrible person. (Too lazy to spell check my own chapter) **

* * *

**Konoha Festival**

It was that time of year again, June 5th. The day the Fire country became a peaceful place, people on the fire country dedicated that day to the Konoha Shinobi who were the ones who earned this freedom. Sakura just never paid attention to these things since she was always busy with her training with Tsunade for the last 3 and a half years. Till...

"Sakura! Get up!" Ino nearly tore down her curtains as she tries to brighten then room. Sakura's eyes fluttered open "Ino-chan?" she said, closing the book next to her. "God, how do you live in here. Sakura" said Ino with disgust. There were books everywhere, her table was filled with herbs and antidotes and even her bed was piled up with books.

Sakura looked around, she didn't really see what was wrong with her room. Sakura pushed the book she was reading away and looked around "Erm... is there a problem? Ino-chan. and when were you released from the hospital" said Sakura.

"Oh, I'm supposed to be hospitalized for another day. But I snuck out, I'm perfectly fine! The doctors are just worrying too much" said Ino, putting her hands on her waist. "I see... do you need something?" said Sakura, getting off her bed and grabbing her hair into a bun and pushing her hair needle through her pink locks, holding it in a bun. She went over to the bathroom to wash up.

"Do you even know what day is it today?" said Ino, her head peeping from outside the bathroom door that Sakura left open. Sakura gargled and spat in the sink "June 5th?" Sakura answered questioningly. "Exactly, and do you know what celebration happens on June 5th?" Ino pushed on.

Sakura wiped her face "June 5th... Tsunade-sama _was_ mumbling something about today..." Sakura turned to Ino "Why?" she asked. Ino face palmed "Today's The Konoha Festival! They're having it in the main village in the Fire Country! This is the time for us to wear yukatas and play games! My mom used to take we there all the time" said Ino.

"Oh right. I've heard about it, but I've never actually thought of going, since I'm not originally a Konoha Shinobi and it's mostly for enjoyment of the people in the Fire Country" said Sakura. Ino shook her head "What do you put in that big head of yours, Sakura" said Ino.

Sakura opened her mouth to say something "Ok, Don't even answer" Ino stopped her. Sakura drew back "Listen here, Sakura. Nobody cares if you were once an Iwagakure Shinobi, but do you like it here in Konoha?" Ino asked her. Sakura nodded "I love it here"

"Then you're a Konoha Shinobi" Ino smiled at her. Sakura felt a little embarrassed "You've never been to a festival, have you?" said Ino. "No... but I have read about them... in books" said Sakura. Ino sighed and rolled her eyes "How do you expect to impress guys like that? With your looks, it'd be a waste if you didn't go" Ino urged. Sakura looked down for a moment "I never really thought about impressing a guy before, but I guess... it wouldn't hurt to take one day off " she muttered softly, but that was all Ino needed "Then it's settled! Change out your sleep wear, Sakura." Ino commanded superiorly.

"E-Eh?"

"We're going shopping!" she announced then shoved Sakura back into the bathroom and threw her casual wear at her then closed the door.

Sakura stepped out, all dressed. Her hair was still in the bun, but there was strands falling down the side of her face and at the back of her neck and her forehead. She dusted herself and looked up at Ino to get an approval. "Mm... that'll do" she said then took her hand and dragged her out.

As they passed Sasuke room. Sasuke was just coming out from his room just in time to see Ino kidnap Sakura. "Sorry Sasuke-kun, I'm gonna borrow Sakura for a day, okay?" Ino said as she ran past him with Sakura behind dragged behind. Not even bothering about what Sasuke has to say.

"Ah, Sorry Sasuke. Looks like you're going to have to make breakfast on your own today" said Sakura, giving him an apologetic smile. Then an image the kiss that happened last night flashed in his mind, she blushed and looked away. Sasuke noticed this and began to regret losing control of himself.

"A whole day...?" he muttered to himself. He wasn't sure if he'll be able to endure a whole day knowing that Sakura's off somewhere, with Ino. That girl has her scary ways of doing things, what if she makes Sakura wear something weird, or makes her do something she doesn't want. Sasuke knew Sakura could never turn down a favor, and that's what he was worried about.

He need to find out where was Ino taking Sakura, he needed to find Shikamaru. He rushed downstairs and out the door in mere seconds, he jumped up to one of the building tops and searched for Shikamaru there.

"Oi~ Sasuke!"

A vein popped up on Sasuke's head. 'Why did it have to be him...' He tried to ignore him as much as possible, but that never works now does it? Naruto jumped up on the rooftop with his teammate "Hey teme, where's Sakura-chan" asked Naruto.

"Ino took off with her" said Sasuke. "What? Ino did? Where?" said Naruto, looking out for Ino from the roof. "I don't know, which is why I'm gonna ask Shikamaru" said Sasuke and just in time, he spotted Shikamaru, walking down the streets with Chouji.

Sasuke frowned, it wasn't like Shikamaru to be walking about in the morning. Usually when he'd get kicked out by him mother for lazing around in bed for too long, he'll always finds someplace else to laze around. That guy was just beyond the extent of lazy people. but no matters, he was ready to beat the answer out of him if he has to.

"I see him" said Sasuke, then he jumped down. "Huh? Where?" said Naruto, looking around then followed the Uchiha.

Shikamaru was casually walking down the streets, peaceful and undisturbed except for the sound of chips crunching in Chouji's mouth. Then _WHOOSH _**(- Haha, I just felt like doing that) **

He was gone, leaving a innocent, confused Chouji but Naruto landed down next to him and told him that Sasuke just needed to ask Shikamaru some questions and then ran off to chase after Sasuke.

Sasuke took Shikamaru by the collar and slammed him against the wall in an alley "Where did Ino take Sakura to" he said in a rather scary and threatening voice. Shikamaru winced and rubbed the back of his head "It...te" then his eyes landed on Sasuke. "What do you mean?" he said, taking note of what Sasuke just asked him.

"Ino came by this morning and took off with Sakura, where is she taking her" said Sasuke, letting go of Shikamaru's collar, Shikamaru groaned "That woman... she was going on all morning about the Konoha Festival and how she's gonna get all the girls to go in yukatas." said Shikamaru.

"Let me guess, you helped her escape from the hospital" said Sasuke, he knew that Ino was supposed to hospitalized for another day. Shikamaru looked at him, obviously panicking and flustered. "Geh!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes on him. Shikamaru recalled on what Ino did to persuade him to help her.

_This morning in the Konoha General Hospital, 7:21 a.m. _

_Shikamaru was surprisingly awake at this time of day, and the first place he went was the hospital to check on Ino. By the time he reach her room, she was already up and walking around in her hospital wear. _

_"Oh, Morning. Shikamaru" chirped Ino, excitedly. Shikamaru closed the door behind him, wondering what's gotten Ino so hyped up. "Ne ne, Shikamaru. Do you know what day is it today?" said Ino, sitting down on the bed. _

_Shikamaru raised an eyebrow "The Konoha Festival?" he answered rather dryly. Ino stood up and pointed at him "Exactly, this isn't the time for me to be stuck in here. I need to get out" she said. Shikamaru looked at her "You're not arranged to leave till tomorrow morning" he told her. Ino pouted "But the festival will be over by then. and besides, I'm all fine. I wasn't even physically badly that badly" she said. _

_"But your body still needs to recover, you're not gonna risk it just to go to the festival" said Shikamaru, leaning against the wall opposite of her. "But I've been looking for it all year! I didn't really want to go since we were all training, but now that Naruto and Sasuke-kun has returned, there's no reason we shouldn't" protested Ino. _

_"No, you can't. Your body might not be able to take it" said Shikamaru. Ino then got an idea, she pouted and looked at him pitifully "I really can't go?" she said. He wasn't gonna lie, that did take him by surprise, but he was stronger than that. _

_"Yeah" he answered as straightly as possible. Ino sighed and leaned on the wall next to him "This is troulesome" she sighed then leaned on his shoulder "I really wanted to go" she said in a voice sounded like she was gonna burst out in tears any second now, and that will be really troublesome. _

_Ino can feel Shikamaru slowly giving in. One part of him wanted to walk out of the room and ignore her, but of course his raging hormones won't allow that. Ino held his hand "You really can't help me, huh? I wanted to bring the girls shopping for yukatas." she said. Her hair tickling his neck, he need to stop this before she gets serious and who knows what he'll do next. _

_"Fine, but this is the only time I'll agree to your troublesome plans" he said, Ino raised her head and let go of his hand and jumped around "Yay! I owe you one Shikamaru" she said. There, Shikamaru was instantly relieved from his hormone attack while Ino was snickering at the back of her mind 'Operation Hormone Self Destruct: Success' she grinned. _

_After that, Shikamaru brought the nurse's outfit for Ino to change into then there, they both headed their separate ways, at least till both of them reach outside the hospital where Shikamaru gave Ino her casual wear and she thanked him and took off without another word. _

_But after a few minutes of lazing around, he couldn't stand anymore his mind was all on Ino and he couldn't laze properly so he set out to fine her, and then he bumped into Chouji so they began searching for their teammate where Shikamaru was so rudely interupted by Sasuke and that's where they're at. _

**Back to the future! **

"So you don't know either?" said Naruto, walking in with Chouji. Shikamaru shook his head "If I did I wouldn't _be_ here, I'd be cloud watching" said Shikamaru then he rubbed the back of his head "This is such a drag" he complained.

"Hmm... where could they be..." thought Naruto. "Wait a second, she said she was gonna gather the girls, that mean't The Konoha 12 girls right?" said Chouji. Then a meteor hit Shikamaru, not literally but the he just found out where Ino was headed. "the Hyuuga Residence" he said and everyone looked at him. "Hinata is there, and Tenten is usually training with Neji in the backyard, they're both the only girls left that belong in the Konoha 12" said Shikamaru.

"Then she must be heading there to drag Tenten and Hinata in her shopping trip" said Chouji. "But can we make it in time?" said Naruto. They jumped off "Let's just hope Neji will be able to stall her till we get there" said Sasuke, he knew Neji wouldn't give up Tenten that easily.

Meanwhile... Hyuga Residence...

"No! She is to accompany me with my training, you can't have her" said Neji, pulling Tenten by the arm, Ino tugged at Tenten's other arm and she jerked towards the blonde. "Well, I need Tenten to get her ready for the festival along with the other girls!" Ino turned to Hinata that was hiding behind Sakura "Ne? Hi-nata" said Ino, suddenly so sweet.

Hinata jumped a little "Y-Yeah" she squeaked "You see! Hinata agrees with me!" said Ino. Neji rolled his eyes "Hinata-sama agrees to everything" he said then tugged Tenten back towards him. Ino glared at him and both of them glared at each other for awhile then Ino thought of an idea. "Ne, Neji. You're going to the festival later right?" she asked. "Yeah, it's a tradition in my family to attend" he answered.

"So~ If you hand over Tenten now, I'll dress her up and then at the festival I'll give her back" Ino leaned over and whispered in his ear "You wanna see her in a yukata, don't you? Imagine what she'd look like in one "Ino tempted him. Neji's mind floated off to his imaginary land, Tenten was in a yukata, her hair let down and smiling at him 'Neji!' she waved at him

He let go of Tenten instantly and not only that, he shoved her to Ino "Now that I think about it, Lee would make a better sparring partner instead, she's all yours, Yamanaka Ino" said Neji. Ino wanted to laugh out loud at Neji's shallow thinking. "Neji! That's not fair!" whined Tenten.

"Yamanaka Ino! You'd better impress me" said Neji, as he crossed his arms. Ino gave him a wink before she disappeared out his front gate, along with all the girls.

Unfortunately, the boys pursuing the blonde girlfriend kidnapper arrived just a little too late, by a minute. Neji was just about to go and find Lee when a some boys pounced on him, _unsuccessfully _tackling him to the ground and ended up being beaten up, though Sasuke and Shikamaru were just fine since they thought it wasn't very smart to pounce on the heir of the Hyuga Main Family.

"Today seems to be filled with interruptions against my training, what do you guys want" said Neji. "Oi Neji! I challenge you!" said Naruto, standing up and pointing at Neji before getting shoved back down by Sasuke "Has Ino been here?" he asked Neji. "Yamanaka Ino? Yeah, why?" said Neji.

"Do you where she's headed?" said Shikamaru. "She said she was gonna bring the girls do some shopping" Neji answered. "So we're too late" said Naruto. "No, If she's gonna do some shopping, she's probably heading out of the village and to the non-shinobi towns." said Shikamaru.

"But we won't be able to search all the exits in time" said Chouji. Sasuke turned to Neji "Neji, can you find out which gate they're taking?" said Sasuke. "Yeah... but why would I wanna do that?" Neji crossed his arms and eyed Sasuke suspiciously, Sasuke stepped closer to Neji , their shoulders touching and both facing opposite directions. "Do you seriously want to trust Tenten with that woman?" said Sasuke, loud enough for only Neji to hear. "What do you mean?" said Neji.

"Have you seen what she was wearing?" said Sasuke. Neji froze, now that he thought about it, Ino's choice of clothes were all very revealing if Tenten gets influenced by her ways of fashion then...

_Neji's Delusional Theater _

_Tenten was wearing heels, and black extremely short shorts, her kunai pouch tied around her bare thigh, a white tube top that only covers her... *Ehem* __and an unbuttoned sleeve jacket_ _that seemed to have no function. Her hair was let down, they were long and wavy as they've always been in buns. Strands of hair falling around her cheeks, framing her face. _

_That's not what Neji was agitated about, it was the swarm of guys surrounding her, asking for her company. and what's worst, she smiled at him and waved as she walked off with another guy. _

Neji shook himself out of that _horrible _scene. "We have to find them" he said. Sasuke smirked and turned to the rest of the guys. Naruto stood with his jaw open "I swear, Sasuke used his sharingan and hypnotized him!" shouted Naruto. Sasuke raised his brows in amusement as Neji searched the gates for anything kunoichi passing through.

The guys waited patiently as Neji's byakugan searched for the girls, then he deactivated his Byakugan. "Yamanaka Ino's taking the west entrance" said Neji. "Let's go"

Meanwhile the girls were following Ino through the west entrance. "Where are we going?" said Sakura. "The West village, they're well known for their amazing silk fabric and tailors" said Ino. "Hee... I never even thought about buying clothes from outside the village" said Tenten

"And that's why all your clothes look the same" said Ino.

"and what's wrong with that?" said Tenten.

Ino made a clicking sound with her tougue "My dear Tenten" Ino wrapped her arm around Tenten "You've been hanging out with guys too much" she said, then looked at Sakura whose mind was obviously occupied with something else "Sakura! You too!" Ino scolded and Sakura jumped a little. "Y-Yes?" she asked. Ino facepalmed then turned to Hinata "Hinata wore a yukata before right?" she asked the heiress. "Y-Yes... my f-family has traditions to go t-there every year it is h-hosted" Hinata said softly. "At least there's someone here who has worn something other than their shinobi outfit..." Ino muttered.

All the way to the west village, Ino was going on and on about the various types of yukata that suits them. Tenten would often try to talk Ino out of making her wear something that's so hard to move in but her efforts always end up in vain. Sakura suddenly froze for a moment, the others had made some distance before she continued and caught up to them. 'I wonder if the others noticed...'

When they reached the village, it was bustling with people. It seemed to be a busy time for the towns folk too, orders to fulfil, customers to attend to. People from all over the Fire country would get their Yukatas from them. "Whoa... it's pretty crowded here" said Tenten. Ino started shivering, no wait it was more like trembling. "I-Ino-chan? What's wrong?" Hinata asked, worriedly. The girls surrounded her, but they didn't see her face as she was facing away from them.

"Tch, What's wrong. Ino, Don't tell me you feel sick after you dragged us all the way here" said Tenten. "AH! I can't hold it in anymore! This is so exciting!" she yelled like a volcano just erupted within her. The three stared at her like she was crazy "Hah?" exclaimed Tenten.

Ino looked at them "What are you spacing out for, you three. We have some shopping to do! let's go!" Ino grabbed Hinata who was closes to her. Then when into the first store Ino's eyes fell on. It was an elderly lady that was running the store, she was sewing patterns on a silver yukata. She jumped to her feet when she heard them coming in.

"My... it's been a while since I had kunoichi come in my store" she said, adjusting her glasses. "Eh? Baa-san. How do you know we're shinobi?" said Tenten, pointing at herself. "Baa-chan's a sensory type" said Sakura, when everyone looked at her, she took a step back "T-That's what I think" she said. Hinata activated her Byakugan and found out that the elderly lady was a retired shinobi.

"Hee... you're pretty amazing, Baa-san" said Ino. "It's nothing much. So, what can I do for such pretty young ones" she said. "I'd like to see your kimonos" said Ino, grinning. The lady showed them her best designs that were hung out a T- shaped stand. Ino looked at them whilst rubbing her chin.

"They all look the same to me" said Tenten when it was clear that all the kimono's had different colours and patterns on it. "No no, this one looks bigger than the others" said Sakura, pointing at a midnight blue one with goldfish on it. Tenten inspected it more thoroughly "Oh, you're right" she said.

Ino facepalmed. "You know... the point of kimonos is that they're all of _different colours and patterns _that's what makes them attractive, _not _the size" Ino scolded and shook her head 'These girls act like they've lived under a rock till now' then she noticed that Hinata was especially attracted to one of the kimono patterns. It was a midnight blue one with snowflakes on the lower parts. Ino thought for a second, then snapped her fingers.

"Hi-na-ta" she said in a sweet voice. Hinata jumped and looked at Ino "Y-Yes?" snapping out of her daydreaming. And then the next second Ino was pushing her into the changing room.

Meanwhile... Behind a bush near the shop...

"Ow, you're on my foot. Teme"

"That's not me, Dumbass"

"Shut up you imbeciles"

"I'm going to sleep"

"Someone's touching my ass!"

WHACK

"Ow, Why'd you hit me?"

"My bad, Shikamaru"

"Shut up, or they'll notice us..!"

The so called 'peeking toms' followed the girls all around the town thinking that they're hidden. That was till Ino threw a kunai at the tree they were hiding in and nearly killed Naruto. They gulped "You morons... _what_ do you think you're doing?" Ino yelled at them. They came down from the tree one by one.

Sakura came out to meet with Ino in a white kimono and soft pink flower patterns "Ino-chan. Look what the shopkeeper recommended" Sakura chirped happily as she jogged over to Ino. Sasuke choked on air and stared at Sakura like a hungry wolf. Sakura noticed that the guys were there "Oh, so you guys finally came out?" Sakura asked.

"Oh so you knew all along, Sakura" Ino said. Sakura nodded. Ino sighed and turned back to the guys and her eyes fell on Sasuke who was staring intently at Sakura, she smirked. "Like what you see eh? Sasuke" Ino teased. Sasuke drew back and blushed he turned away "N-No!" he stuttered. Ino went up to his face and stared at him, he glared at her and she pinched his cheek "You're blushing already" Ino said. Sasuke slapped off her hand and scowled at her.

Ino chuckled "Tough luck guys. I forbid you to look at the girls till I'm fully done. If I catch any of you close by, I swear. Next time that kunai won't miss" she said in a devilishly threatening tone. "Is that clear?" she growled. They all nodded and jumped off.

Ino smiled and turned back to Sakura "Now... where were we"

The guys spent the whole day wondering what's Ino doing with the girls. As the sunsets, they had to get themselves ready too, they had agreed to meet up with the girls at the main village. Sasuke put himself in a dark blue plain kimono and a lighter blue hakama pleated on with a white ribbon, he wore a black haori with the red and white uchiwa fan imprinted on it, he took off his forehead protector.

Naruto's was a bright blue one with a navy blue haori and white hakama, he took off his forehead protector too and kept it safe in his underwear drawer. Shikamaru didn't want to wear a kimono, because it was too troublesome, till his mother asked him who he was going with to the Konoha Festival.

"Ino... and some other people" he sighed the reply. His mother immediately dragged him back into the house and made him change into a dull grey kimono with a black hakama and a faded brown haori, Neji wore a white kimono with a silvery-grey hakama and a grey haori, he kept his forehead protector on.

As most of Konoha's shinobi leaves for the festival, the four guys bumped into each other, they looked at each other then sighed.

At the festival.

The atmosphere was light, the sun had gone down and the moon was high. Little children in kimonos running around, playing at the stalls. The street was lit up by and endless trail of lanterns. But what caught the guys attention were the couples on a date, holding hands, guys winning prizes for the girls. Which leads them to fantasizing about the girls.

"Sorry for the wait." said a familiar voice, the guys turned around. Ino and Hinata were standing there. Ino in a light blue kimono with ume blossoms, but that wasn't the most appealing part. She had her long hair in a half ponytail as they fell down her chest and covered her back in light waves. Shikamaru choked.

Hinata was in the midnight blue on with snowflakes on the lower part, Ino did her hair in a blue with strands falling down everywhere, as she stared at the ground and fiddled with her fingers. Naruto hadn't even noticed that he was blushing.

"Which one do you want to see first, Tenten. Or Sakura" said Ino, clearly liking the fact that she was practically driving Sasuke and Neji insane. "Sakura" "Tenten" they answered at the same time, then glared at each other. "Mou! Ino, why do I have to hide behind you" said a voice from behind Ino. Tenten stepped out from behind and gave everyone a shock.

She had her hair down, it was naturally wavy due to it always being tied in buns, her bangs framed her face. She was wearing a white kimono with grey and black flower patterns and without her forehead protector, she looked rather uncomfortable as she was fidgeting and blushing as she pouted. "I-I look... weird. Don't I?" said Tenten, aware of the stares she was getting.

"No you don't" Neji blurted out a little too loud. Ino grinned and crossed her arms and let nature do its thing. Neji paused as Tenten stare at him. "A-Ah... erm... I think... it suits you... quite well" Neji muttered as his voice slowly faded, but Tenten heard it all. Her face immediately brightened, knowing Neji doesn't find it weird that she was in a kimono... with her hair down.

Ino pulled out the last little lady from behind Hinata, she squeaked a little as she nearly tripped on her own feet. "Haruno Sakura" Ino announced proudly. Sakura looked a little blur but when she saw Naruto and Sasuke, she smiled and gave them a wave "How do I look" she said.

Speechless

Sakura was in a crimson red kimono with white Sakura blossoms and petals, her hair was pulled to the side and tied in a butterfly braid. Sasuke had a hard time trying to swallow. Ino gave Sakura a push, she stumbled forward and bumped into Sasuke who held her.

She looked up and met his eyes. "Yo, Sasuke" she smiled, meekly. "Hey" he gave her a faint smile. Sakura suddenly remembered-

_She let out a breath in relief then sat down on her chair. Sasuke took out her red strapped kunai and put it on her table and attempted to leave, till he saw his life album. Sakura reached out and grabbed it. Sasuke held out his hand and looked at her in a way that say Give-It-Here . Sakura merely smiled and shook her head. _

_The next thing was unexpected, as Sasuke leaned over and implanted a kiss-_

_On her lips. _

Sakura immediately straightened and shuffled back nervously. The girls looked at each other, confused. Sasuke realized why Sakura was afraid of him, he blushed and turned away. Hating himself for what he pulled and wished it never happened. Ino sighed and shook her head, then turned to Neji, who was staring at the oblivious Tenten. She held Tenten by the shoulders and grinned at Neji . "Cute, isn't she. And it's all yours" Ino gave Tenten a light push and Tenten walked a few steps forward. Shyly appoaching Neji.

"S-Shall we get going then" said Neji. Tenten nodded and they walked off into the streets. Sasuke scowled at the ground, he needed to talk to her. But not here, he grabbed Sakura by the hand and dragged her off to someplace more quiet, ignoring the awkward stares he felt on his back. Ino smiled _'Good luck, you two' _Ino turned to Shikamaru. "Let's go, Shikamaru. You're going to win me some prizes" she held his hand and pulled him along. Shikamaru can't help but smile, even though he was going to have to put effort in winning the stalls.

"Well, looks like we're the only ones left" said Naruto, meekly scratching the back of his head. Hinata turned red. Ino turned around and gave her a wink. Feeling little confident pushing her up, she attempted to start a conversation. "W-We s-should go-" Hinata muttered as she touched her index fingers together, Naruto looked at her and she froze and swallowed her words.

"What are you mumbling about? Let's go!" said Naruto, holding out his hand in front of her. Hinata managed a smile as she took her hand.

Meanwhile, Sakura was now walking behind Sasuke and they were walking away from the lights of the festival and into a more deserted part of town. Sakura looked around the area, trying hard not to look at Sasuke.

Sasuke suddenly stopped in his track and Sakura managed to stop in time before she rammed into Sasuke's back. "Sakura" His tone sent chills down her back. "Y-yeah?" said Sakura, looking down her forehead almost touching his back. "About yesterday..." Sasuke continued, he looked like he was having a hard time getting the words out.

"I-I'm sorry..." he said. Sakura looked up, she gave a crooked smile "Why are you apologizing...?" she said. "It was inappropriate, and it insensitive for a guy to do that without permission." said Sasuke, he was red, what if she won't forgive him. "S-So-" he was cut off when he felt something on his back. Sakura leaned her forehead on his back. "Thank god..." she sighed.

Sasuke didn't move. "Ino told me... A kiss is used to represent affection of a person. But when you did it to me, I felt like my heart was going to explode. I don't know what would I do with you loved me" Sakura said, quivering. Sasuke felt like some had just kicked him in the gut.

"But I guess I was worrying over nothing. We'll always be friends... right?" said Sakura. It hurts, but he wasn't going to ask for anything more. "Yeah..." he sighed. Sakura blinked her eyes, she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand and put on a smile. "Let's go. I want to see what's a festival like" said Sakura, walking out from behind Sasuke.

Sasuke snorted and followed closely behind. Sakura stopped "Sasuke?" she said. Sasuke looked at her from the back "Yeah?"

"Where are we?" said Sakura. Sasuke looked around, where are they indeed. A few shadows appeared on the wall, stumbling and tripping. It seemed to be coming from the turn to the alley ahead. Two wasted men came stumbling out, they turned towards the two youngsters in the dark. "Hey look, they're two kids here." one of them said. The other man hiccupped then looked at them "My my -hic- it's awfully dangerous for two kids to be alone." an ugly smirk appeared on his face.

Sakura scrunched up her nose "They stink of alcohol." she said, taking a step back. "We'd better not get too close to them. Come, we'll try another route" said Sasuke, tugging on Sakura's sleeve "S-Sure" she answered as they turned around.

One of them called out "Where do you think you're going? -hic- the party's starting here" the man grabbed Sakura by the arm. She turned to look up at him, a little worried. "Nii-chan can come join us too. Of course, you probably might now like this kind of fun" said the other man to Sasuke.

Sasuke scowled "Kh..."

He kicked the man holding on to Sakura's elbow in the gut, sending him all the way to the far side of the street, he glared at the other guy and send him tripping away. Sasuke sighed and decided to walk away like he did nothing, till someone grabbed his hand.

He stopped and looked at his hand then traced it back to Sakura. She smiled "You're pretty reliable at these things ne? Sasuke" she said.

Sasuke blushed "W-Whatever"

They walked down the streets, hand in hand.

The night ended with Sakura and Sasuke wandering the town aimlessly, Ino playing with her newly won piggy stuff toy, Tenten and Neji enjoying the fireworks in an empty park near the festival and Naruto starting to realize something and Hinata enjoying Naruto's company.

Next Chapter 

"Orochimaru and Akatsuki are on the move"

"You can't possibly be thinking of sending Team Kakashi on this mission"

"My parents...!"

"Creepy bastard"

"Listen to me listen to me, you're going to be fine. Please... just don't leave me"

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**PLEASE READ THIS!**

**The reason this chapter was so sloppily written was cause I was busy writing another fanfic, this one is an AU. It's up to you guys whether you're going to give it a try or not, also I'm planing to focus more on editting and reposting the prequel. A Different Story. So don't blame me that I didn't warn you about the future slow updates! Yes, I'm sorta beta-ing my own work, cause I- er... I'm not very strong with critics, ehehe. **

**And I'm also writing a few Gakuen Alice fanfics I will be posting soon, but don't worry, I will continue updating this fanfic , till I er- think of an ending. That should be it for the announcements, I'll see you guys the next time I read your reviews. Wish me luck! Bye bye**


	8. Old Fight

**Hi guys! Yes I know you're mad at me cause I didn't update this in ages, I'm not gonna make any excuses so here you go! Chapter 7. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Old Fight**

A week after the 'romantic' konoha festival, and the night Sasuke got his heart smashed and stomped on... then eaten... (Not the point! Sorry Sasuke!) It was time for the team to start on missions again and there was one coming their way.

A female decoder suddenly barged into the room, "Hokage-sama! We have received an Intel from our scouts in the west sector" she said. Tsunade looked up from scowling at the paperwork on her desk with Shizune next to her. "What is it" said Tsunade.

"You should see for yourself" she approached Tsunade's desk and placed the unravelled scroll on her desk. Tsunade picked it up with a frown, as she read, her face fell further. "What is it, Tsunade-sama" asked Shizune. Tsunade did not answer, but before Shizune could sneak a peek at the scroll, Tsunade ripped it in half. Alarmed, Shizune immediately made distance from her mentor.

"Shizune! Get me a list of the available jounins!" commanded Tsunade as she stood up, knocking over her cup of tea. "Y-Yes Tsunade. Right away!"

Meanwhile Sasuke and Naruto were doing some training while Sakura was working in the hospital.

"Ne... isn't it a little too boring here without Sakura-chan...?" sulked Naruto, as Sasuke threw a kunai at Naruto. He just tilted his head a little to the side and the kunai missed. Naruto charged at Sasuke and the two broke out into a taijutsu battle. "Not really" Sasuke said as he landed a kick to Naruto's gut, but it turned out to be a shadow clone.

Sasuke sidestepped and Naruto came flying past from behind him with a rasengan, he stumbled a little before coming to a stop, he heard cackling sounds behind him, he turned his head a little behind and saw Sasuke standing there with a sinister look as he held a blue electricity lashing out violent. Naruto turned and fully faced him.

They charged.

The collision was chaotic, Sakura looked out the window of the patient she was tending to and she could see lightning and chakra, viciously shooting out of the training grounds. She smiled 'They seem to be having fun'

The patient called out to her and she tore her gaze away from the outside world as she tended to the woman.

In the Hokage's office...

Tsunade was scowling at the clipboard that supposedly contained the profiles of all the available jounin of the village, she twitched. "Shizune... I told you to get me a list of _jounins_, not a list of available shinobi" said Tsunade. "W-Well, All the jounin are away on missions" said Shizune, clearly aware of her teacher's bad mood.

Tsunade snapped the clipboard in half, further frightening Shizune. "M-May I ask what's the emergency about...?" asked Shizune, praying that Tsunade wouldn't reign her temper on her. "Orochimaru and The Akatsuki are on the move" sighed Tsunade as she looked down at a certain team's profile.

Shizune's eyes widened, no wonder Tsunade wanted a list of jounins, no chunin or genin could be able to handle them.

Except maybe _them_

Tsunade's assistant noticed that her teacher was staring at the worst team she could possibly be thinking of sending on this mission. "You can't possibly be thinking of sending Team Kakashi on this mission" she said nervously.

"That wouldn't be a very good decision, Kakashi's not here to lead the team either" said Tsunade. Shizune sighed in relief before Tsunade added "But I can't think of anyone else more perfect for this job" smirked Tsunade. "Gehh"

Tsunade slammed her palm on her desk "Get me Team Kakashi now!" Shizune tensed up "But but-" Tsunade shot her a _look_ "Now" she made it clear. "Y-Yes, r-right away, Tsunade-sama"

Sakura was busy writing the report on her latest patient when a knock on her door was heard. "Sakura-san, The hokage has asked for your presence" said a fellow nurse. She stood up and hurried over, not keen on keeping her teacher waiting.

She knocked on the Hokage office door before entering.

"Sakura-chan!" she heard someone shout.

"Naruto, Sasuke!" said Sakura, happy to see her teammates again.

"Sakura-chan Sakura-chan, You can't imagine how much we missed you!" said Naruto as Sakura walked over to stand next him with Sasuke on the other side, she laughed nervously "Naruto, it's been 5 hours" she said.

"Teme over here was so out of it without you around" said Naruto, nudging him continuously. Sasuke twitched "Yeah, I didn't send you flying far enough" said Sasuke. "What did you say, moron teme!" as Naruto flung illogical insults at Sasuke, Sakura leaned out of the line "Is that so, Sasuke" she asked teasingly. Sasuke pouted and turned away with a blushing face "Of course not" he lied.

"Ehem" Tsunade faked a cough and everyone straightened. "After giving this a great amount of thought, I've decided to send you three on this mission, though it's very risky, I can't find a more suitable team to take on this mission" said Tsunade. "What kind of mission, an escort? Infiltration?" said Naruto, making hand motions to match his words. Sasuke furrowed his brow "Orochimaru and the Akatsuki... right" he said quietly.

"You're sharp, Sasuke" said Tsunade, she nodded "Indeed, this mission involves Orochimaru and the Akatsuki, We've just received Intel from the west sector, they seemed to have found Orochimaru's current base and a pair of the Akatsuki has been spotted nearby" said Tsunade.

"An Alliance...?" gasped Sakura. "We can't tell for sure, but I've already sent out a messenger kite containing orders to tell the scouts to retreat from the border, you might bump into them along the way" said Tsunade.

Sakura felt a little insecure after their last meeting with Orochimaru, her hand seemed to curl into a fist without her knowing, her heartbeats slowly got faster as the memories resurfaced.

_Orochimaru's snake hands sank it's teeth into the side of her neck, she could feel her whole body go numb as the darkness closed it, she didn't know what was happening anymore. It was dark, and cold. She felt like she was trapped inside the cave that reeked of blood back in Iwagakure, crouched at the end, crying herself to sleep. She hadn't known that this was the work of the poison, but if this were a bad dream, she wanted someone to save her before she's completely engulfed by the terrifying darkness. That's right... she was going to get eaten by that horrid feeling, she was going to lose herself, and fade away without a tr-_

"Sakura" a voice called her back. She blinked twice "You okay? Sakura-chan" asked Naruto, looking worried.

Sakura smiled "Yeah, I'm fine" That's right. Sasuke was here, so is Naruto. There is nothing to worry about. "I am sure that you are aware of Kakashi's absence as he is on an important mission right now, so I am appointing Sasuke as team leader for this mission" said Tsunade.

"What? How can you pick him and not me!" said an outraged Naruto. "Naruto, you know that answer to that. You've asked it a million times, I'm not going to answer you. Hurry and leave before I make you" said Tsunade.

With that, the three left the room and went home to pack for the journey, they met at the village gate, Sakura paused on the border of the village gate for a moment, allowing the guys to move ahead of her, Sasuke noticed that she was nervous.

He took her hand "Don't worry. I won't let him touch you" he assured her. Sakura looked up slowly at him. He has a very faint smile plastered on his face, but she knew he wasn't kidding. She squeezed back at his hand and marched ahead of him, dragging him along as if she was never nervous.

They jumped off after Naruto shouted at them for being so slow, the path was straight and they zipped past like stray arrows with Sasuke leading and Naruto and Sakura on either side of him. "How far west are we heading?" asked Naruto. "Till we see the border" said Sasuke. "Don't you think we should've bumped into the scouts by now?" asked Sakura. Sasuke's brows furrowed in thought, she was right. Unless the scouts are assigned further west then usual, they should've met up with them now.

His eyes slowly turned red as he activated his sharingan. In a distance he could see something very faint, a small spark of chakra, it was too far for him to make out who was it. He looked back at Sakura "Sakura, 5.3 kilometers North-west, what do you sense" said Sasuke.

Sakura nodded and slowed her breathing, she focused on a single point. It was a fellow konoha shinobi, but something's wrong. "Something's wrong, we better hurry" said Sakura. They all jumped off, leaping a far distance ahead, then they went out of path and into the forest. In a few minutes, they reached the scouts situated in the west sector.

Dead.

Their eyes widened as she stared down at the corpses. They laid scattered across the clearing, bodies lifeless and bloodied, limbs missing and some even decapitated. They had been brutally massacred.

"W... What's this..." Sakura breathed.

"They were discovered before we could make it here" said Sasuke. Naruto clenched his fist "Akatsuki..."

"The wounds are fresh and the rigor mortis hasn't began" said Sakura.

Sasuke blinked and activated his sharingan and looked at the corpses "Their chakra signature hasn't faded either" said Sasuke as he deactivated it.

"That means that the Akatsuki are still close?" asked Naruto eagerly.

"I don't sense any chakra nearby" said Sakura.

"Their chakra signatures had been blocked then rendezvous point must be close" said Sasuke. Naruto slammed his fist into his palm "Right, we'd better start looking then" said Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura looked at him as he made a cross with his fingers "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

In a second one Naruto had multiplied to hundreds and they all jumped out in different directions. As Sasuke and the real Naruto were about to jump off and search for the barrier themselves, Sakura stopped them as she held them by the sleeves. They looked at her, she had her head hung lowly as she looked down.

"Could we at least bury them ...?" she asked softly.

The two boy looked at the Konoha shinobi corpses and smiled at their kunoichi teammate. Sasuke ruffled her hair. "Sure"

And so, the team started to dig the burial of their fellow shinobi.

After a full 10 minute of digging, they finally managed to bury their comrades in a line and laid flowers on their resting spot. "We're finally done" sighed Naruto, stretching then he froze and his eyes widened. Sasuke and Sakura took notice of that. Sakura laid the last of the flowers and stood up "Where is it, Naruto" said Sakura.

"Follow me" said Naruto, he jumped off with his two comrades following him.

They stopped in front of a tree with a seal intact reading the word 'Element Seal' in kanji. Naruto stepped up to tear it off, but electricity sparked and his hand was repelled. He winced and rubbed his hand. "Well I didn't expect it to be that easy" said Naruto. Sakura lit her hand with chakra and tried the same, she wasn't electrocuted but her hand felt like there was a wall between the seal and her hand.

"How do you suppose you deactivate it" said Sakura, taking back her hand. "I'm not very good with seals..." said Naruto. "Neither is all of us..." said Sasuke. "The seal says Elemental Seals..." said Sakura. "Stand back" said Sasuke. Sakura and Naruto looked back at him, then took a step back. Sasuke looked at his hand then grabbed his wrist. "Chidori" he uttered and in his hand lit a ball of spark. He spread his legs and then he was gone, the next thing they knew his chidori had collided with the seal on the tree.

The lightning lashed out but the seal slowly took it in and Sasuke stumbled forward a little, the three took a step back and looked as the barrier became visible, it flickered on and off. Sasuke activated his sharingan to find a weak spot. His eyes darted from corner to corner, desperate to find it before it returned to normal. His eyes widened as he had found it. 'Over there...!'

He took out a kunai and lit it with Lightning Chakra then stabbed it into the barrier's weak spot. The barrier reacted violently as it flickered more, pulses of electricity shot out and Sasuke winced. But after awhile it died down and Sasuke's hand was repelled, his chest heaving as he lowered the weapon.

Sakura sensed something. "Something's wrong" she said. Sasuke and Naruto seemed to have felt it too as they took on a battle stance, and stood in a circle where their backs are facing the middle. They watched as shark summons appeared out of nowhere in a ball of smoke. Sasuke glanced at his right hand, there were burns coating his pale skin. 'Looks like I won't be using Chidori in awhile' he thought.

One by one the sharks grew in numbers. "Shark Summons... they're dangerous" said Sakura. "Summons? I've got an idea" said Naruto. "Really?" said Sakura, it's rare for Naruto to have a plan but something tells Sasuke that it's not gonna go as well as Naruto predicted. Naruto bit his thumb drawing blood he formed a few seals "Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summon Technique)" "I didn't know Naruto could use a summoning technique" said Sakura.

Naruto planted his palm onto the ground, a series of letters wrote themselves on the dirt then there was an explosion of smoke when it cleared all that's left there was a tadpole squirming and wiggling around in the dirt. "Heh heh, I guess the results are still the same huh" Naruto scratched the back of his head, meekly.

"I never expected anything to happen" said Sasuke. "What did you say, teme!" shouted Naruto. "Looks like we'll just have to take them down, one by one" said Sakura bracing herself as the sharks began to close in on them. "One by one?" Sasuke chuckled in amusement "I'll take the whole army" his tone lined with arrogance, he pulled out his katana lighting it up in sparks. He took a big swing at it, taking out 2 of the sharks. Sakura cracked her knuckles then pulled on her glove, she took a shark head on. Her punch connected with its snout, breaking the summon as it exploded into white smoke.

"Kage bunshin no jutsu" Naruto cloned a pair of himself, together they wrestled one of the sharks to the ground the real Naruto finished it off with a Rasengan they then proceeded to the next one. Sasuke had already single handed defeated a dozen of the shark summons but they kept on coming.

"They just keep on coming" said Sakura, she ducked as one of them flew past she turned and gave the one behind her a punch making it explode into smoke. Naruto sent one of them flying with a firm uppercut. Sasuke lit his blade and it began to extend at and incredible rate, all it took was one swing to take 5 of them out.

Sakura noticed that the barrier was unstable. All they had to do was break it completely maybe they summons might stop coming. "Sasuke, Naruto. Cover me" she said. Both males immediately shifted their attention to the safety of Sakura. Everything that had potential danger to Sakura, they took it out. Sakura ran at the barrier, fist glowing green.

_HAAAA_

Sakura's punch sent a shockwave through the forest, there was a pause before the barrier began to crack and fall apart. "She did it...!" said Naruto. Sasuke looked around as the summons broke and disappeared in balls of smoke. Sakura withdrew her hand and took a step as the barrier disappeared. Hidden in the barrier was an underground cave, they didn't need to go in instead the enemy came to them.

Sasuke's cursed seal began to tingle. He unconsciously moved his over and clapped over it, teeth clenching as he relived the memory of the mark, the pain he had been put through every time he exerted himself. He _loathed _the man behind the scar, but he had to thank him. Without this seal, he might not have gained the power he had today.

A deep chuckle could be heard from within the cave, bouncing off the wall as echoes then fading. Sasuke glared at the darkness of the cave, he narrowed his eyes as he said that man's name "Orochimaru..."

"Sasuke-kun, it's been awhile" said Orochimaru, stepping into the light. His sneaky assistant Kabuto standing at his side. "Have you decided to join me?" said Orochimaru. Before Sasuke could open his mouth and snap at him, another voice interrupted "He'll never join you!" the heads turned to the little pink haired kunoichi. She bit her lip, eyebrows arched. "Well well, if it isn't little Sakura. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. Soon, both you and Sasuke will be part of my collection" he said in a sick sadistic voice.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on them" snapped Naruto. "Uzumaki Naruto, the Kyubi Jinchuuriki" Orochimaru smirked. "Oi oi, we had a deal." a new voice came from the cave. "Aha-ha Kisame-san will be very annoyed if you break the deal" said another voice, this one was a more cheeky toned voice. "Hmph... don't worry. I have no use of the Kyubi" said Orochimaru.

Two new enemy emerged from the darkness of the cave. "You...!" Naruto blurted out. "Hou... I'm honoured that you still remember me. Naruto-kun" he said. "Who are you again?" said Naruto. The strange masked man broke out in fits of laughter. "Shut up, Tobi" said Kisame, his expression remained unchanged but they could clearly see that he was annoyed by Naruto's comment. "No matter, I'll make you remember me soon enough" he said, taking hold of his oddly wrapped up blade.

"Ah! That blade!" Naruto shouted out all of the sudden. "Oh, so you remembered. This is the same blade that drained your chakra in Suna and 2 and a half years ago" said Kisame. "Nah it's hopeless... I can't remember anything..." sulked Naruto. "It's alright, Naruto. Maybe it'll resurface when we start fighting" said Sakura. Kisame's eye twitched "Looks like I'll have to make you remember" he said, attacking Naruto. Naruto barely had any time to react, the shark blade collided with Naruto's kunai. The blonde's eyes widened as he suddenly tumbled back. "Naruto...!" shouted Sakura before a pair of snakes shot themselves at her. Fear built up in her gut, those teeth, the venom it was that same feeling she felt. Sakura couldn't bring it in herself to move.

Kunais flew from nowhere and took the heads of the pair of snakes before it could reach Sakura. The kunoichi's legs gave way no longer able to support her. Sasuke rushed in front of her "Sakura, are you alright?" he asked, not turning around. Sakura snapped out of it "I'm fine" she brushed it up and got on her feet "Thanks"

"Can you handle Kabuto? I'll take on Orochimaru" said Sasuke. "What about Naruto" said Sakura. "That guy won't die that easily. He'll manage" said Sasuke. Sakura nodded then gave Naruto one last glance, he was managing pretty well being able to fight on par with one of the Akatsuki, but something tells Sakura that he was just playing around.

Sakura formed some hand seals "Doton, Hachi Josho Ryu (Earth Technique, Eight Rising Dragons)" The ground around the enemy rose from the ground and formed 8 dragons, they roared and charged down on them, crashing into the ground. Sakura knew that technique wasn't nearly fast enough to get them, but that wasn't what she was after. Sasuke fought by kunai with Orochimaru as Kabuto and Sakura fought hand to hand. They needed to separate the master and assistant.

Tobi was watching the whole fight on a tree. The suspicious member of the akatsuki has his eyes on Sasuke. 'He has gotten stronger... good...'

Sakura punched the ground. Kabuto felt the ground below him move, then it suddenly broke off into huge chunks of dirt. He quickly jumped off before he got caught between the earth. Sakura anticipated that, she form the seals "Katon, Karyu Endan" the fire dragon shot at Kabuto, he had nowhere to run in midair. The dragon devoured him completely, a loud shriek filled the air.

Sakura felt something was wrong, how could she still felt Kabuto's chakra furthermore why couldn't she pinpoint it...? Something shot out of the ground in front of her, her eyes widened.

She took a step back and prepared to jump back, Kabuto landed a hit on her stomach with his palm before she did so. Sakura landed swiftly on the ground, seemingly fine. Sakura clutched her stomach and coughed blood. Sasuke's eyes widened and he turned back to Sakura. "If you get distracted like that, Sasuke-kun" he heard his opponent say. He turned back Orochimaru caught him by surprise with a downwards sword slash. Thankfully for his quick reflexes he managed to block it with his kusanagi. "You're going to die" Orochimaru finished with a scary smile as he licked his lips. Sasuke glared at him, he could feel the pain increasing on his cursed seal he needed to focus on his own fight now, he still gave Sakura one last glance to check if she was fine before going back on offense with Orochimaru.

'He cut through my insides...' thought Sakura. Kabuto's chakra scalpel allow him to cut someone's insides without damaging the outside, this technique is usually used for emergency operations but it can also be used as a weapon in combat. Sakura had to dodge his attacks for now, this wound will limit her movements.

Kabuto attacked again. Sakura's hands glowed green as she held her stomach, she dodged his swipes and thrusts. Kabuto thrust at her but she jumped back, he jumped after her, insisting further. Sakura side stepped him before jumping back again. With each move Kabuto is getting faster and faster whereas she was getting slower and slower. She needed to think of something quick.

Kabuto suddenly attacked with continuous slashes that made Sakura retreat further back. Her eyes widened as she felt something at the back of her, the Kabuto front of her melted back to the ground. 'A clone...! Sakura turned around frantically. Kabuto was right behind her, a toothy grin on his face. _Why didn't she sense it? _

Blood splattered all over the ground.

Sakura coughed and choked on the rush of blood that went up her oesophagus. She panted and took a step back from Kabuto who had a kunai stuck in his hand. As Kabuto was about to stab his hand all the way through her inside, Sakura was able to dodge it, as she was falling to the side she stabbed Kabuto's hand before using both hands to flipped away from him resulting in her having to let go of her stomach that was still damaged.

Kabuto just stood there staring at his hand dripping with blood.

"Uwa!"

Naruto flew back and broke another tree, that Naruto exploded into smoke. Kisame was beginning to get very annoyed with Naruto's shadow clone. Suddenly from the forest, came a raid of Narutos from all directions.

"U"

"Zu"

"Ma"

"Ki"

"Naruto Rendan!"

Kisame was raided by kicks from Narutos in all direction.

He smirked. "No way!" one of the Narutos shouted. Kisame has completely blocked it with Samehada blocking his right side and his left hand blocking him on the other side, he took no damage. The clones felt their chakra being drain and deactivated on the right side. Kisame swung his sword to the left side and took out the Narutos on that side. Kisame looked down "Hm?"

A sharp blow was delivered up his chin, lifting him a few feet off the ground. Before Naruto couldn't even get Kisame to move, much less land a hit that blew him off the ground. Kisame flipped and landed on his feet, he rubbed his chin "Not bad, kid. So you have improved" but once Kisame had looked up Naruto charged after him with a spinning blue orb in his hand.

"Rasengan!"

Kisame quickly lifted his sword up to block the massive attack. Naruto's attack was stopped, but he pushed on, ripping the bandages off of Samehada. Kisame was being pushed back, even when he's losing chakra at an incredible rate he was determined to get it through Samehada. Red chakra began to leak from Naruto, his eyes turning red and slit instead of his usual blue.

Kisame winced 'What intense chakra' Naruto's rasengan had finally been drained completely along with the rest of his chakra. He stumbled forward before being hit with Samehada, sending him back into the forest. Sakura and Sasuke turned to him, eyes widened.

Sasuke ducked a swing from Orochimaru before both swords clashed once more. The collisions of metal were continuous, there was no wasted movement, each swing of their swords were aiming for the kill. Sasuke was pushed back by Orochimaru. He swung his sword to the side lighting it up with his chidori.

He charged once again, determined to finish it. He jumped and slashed his sword down, Orochimaru pulled his own katana up to block the blow, but he didn't expect Sasuke's sword to go all the way through him. His eyes widened as Sasuke cut through his shoulder, The raven head pulled his sword out and stepped back. He watched as Orochimaru's body fell forward and stayed on the ground. Sasuke took another step back and turned around, about to go help his teammates.

A snake shot at him, he turned back and sliced it in half. "You let your guard down, Sasuke-kun" Sasuke's eyes widened as Orochimaru placed his hand on where his seal was located. Sasuke felt his whole body tense, muscles trembling and giving away. His shriek of pain filled the forest. Sakura's attention immediately shifted to him. "What's wrong, Sasuke!" shouted Sakura. Before she got an answer she was attacked by Kabuto. Her eyes widened as he attacked her head on, eyes looking vicious and bloodthirsty, he was a completely different person.

He was faster, and stronger and more violent. Sakura's speed alone could barely keep up with his movements. She jumped far behind, she lifted her leg up high. "Tsutenkyaku (Heavenly Foot of Pain)" she brought it down. It sent shockwaves through the whole forest. The ground began to crack before a huge crater was made, making Kabuto lose his balance. He jumped off, Sakura jumped after him and they engaged into a taijutsu battle, Sakura didn't give him the chance to use his Chakra Scalpel.

Kisame was slowly walking to Naruto's crash site. He presumed the boy to be knocked out cold and ready for him to retrieve.

Sasuke was struggling to get on his feet as he was on all fours. Orochimaru landed a hard kick in his gut that sent him flying a few feet away. "If you'd have came quietly to me, we wouldn't have to go through his procedure" said Orochimaru. Black marks began to cover Sasuke, along with the painful side effects. Sasuke could feel it in himself, he was losing control. The overwhelming power that just had to be used, He clenched his fist and got up. He let the marks be, he was going to use it to kill the person that gave it to him.

After all those years of training, he mastered the cursed seal and the techniques he could power up with it. He formed a seal with one of his hand "Chidori... Nagashi (Chidori Stream)" lightning chakra exploded from him. Now that his seal had been activated, his Chidori Stream has a wider range and greater attack power. Orochimaru jumped back to dodge them, as he was focusing on dodging the streams of lightning, Sasuke took that chance to grab his Kusanagi. After the sparks died down, Orochimaru was raided by a wave of lightning senbons. 'So he was after his kusanagi...' Orochimaru jumped around, dodging the needles. Her heard something click shut. Amidst the continuous rain of needles Sasuke was charging up an attack to finish Orochimaru with. "It's over"

Orochimaru smirked.

Sakura landed a hit on Kabuto. But like the others it was a dummy, this was the 5th one. No matter how hard Sakura concentrated, she couldn't pinpoint his location. She had her guard up, she thought hard, that time...

_When the snakes shot out of the cave, they weren't from Orochimaru. They were from Kabuto, they weren't meant to bite her, they were just hiding the real intent. Before Sasuke cut the heads of the snakes off, they shot a thin needle at her that injected the venom that disrupted her chakra circulation disabling her ability to accurately sense chakra. _

But by the time she found out it was too late, Kabuto shot out from the ground. Sakura stood her ground, this is her only chance. Her chakra was running low, and she couldn't activate her kaiho. She's got one shot at this, she just hopes that this won't be her last attack. Kabuto aimed for her heart. Sakura's eyes widened, Kabuto paused in their position. His hand on her chest, but Sakura was holding his wrist to prevent it from stabbing in her completely. But it still damaged her insides. Blood rushed up and she coughed before gasping for air, wincing as she grinned, blood clinging on the side of her lip.

Kabuto knew what was she trying to do, he was in deep shit. Sakura swiped at his legs, tripping him she pushed down his shoulder and clenched her fist. Her fist collided with his gut, creating a huge crater in the middle of the clearing. Kabuto couldn't possibly be alive after that. Sakura panted, taking deep breaths. She clutched her chest, thankfully Kabuto didn't puncture her heart, but he probably made a hole in her lung. She briefly mended it and limped towards the top of the crater.

By the time she reached the top, she heard a terrible cry of pain. "Sasuke!"

She looked over at her raven head teammate. He clutched his neck with one hand, the other still holding on to his chidori. His legs look ready to give out, he was only a few feet away from Orochimaru. He was so close... yet so far.

Sasuke collapsed, his chidori disappearing. His black marks were taking over as he knelt down in front of Orochimaru, every muscle in his body tensed up. "Sasuke-kun, _kill_" Orochimaru said. Another cry filled the forest. This time it was by a rougher voice. "Naruto...!" Sakura turned to the direction of where he was thrown. Kisame came flying out, Sakura could faintly feel it, the ominous aura. But where was it coming from, she looked behind her. Sasuke was holding a sword at her neck. "Sa...suke...?" she panted.

She met his eyes. They weren't normal, they were empty. He lifted his katana above her before something red and violent crashed into him like a meteor. Both boys clashed like water and fire. Sakura couldn't do anything, the effects of the drug hasn't wore off. She looked at Orochimaru, he was just smirking there. Maybe Sasuke will return back to normal when she kills him.

"Orochimaru!" she shouted. Orochimaru's attention directed to the kunoichi. "Change Sasuke back" she commanded, eyes firm and glaring. "I like that look in your eyes, but I am afraid I can't fulfil your request, Sasuke-kun can't be stopped now" chuckled Orochimaru. Sakura lost it, she ran at him. He lifted his arm and snakes flew out, wrapping around her neck, wrists and legs. She was completely immobilised, she could easily rip right through them. But when she tried, Orochimaru pulled back on her wrist, threatening her. Not to mention that she had a punctured lung and stomach, further limiting her use of strength and movements.

"How selfless, just like your parents" chuckled Orochimaru. "My parents...?"Sakura gasped, eyes looking at Orochimaru. What does he know about her parents, more importantly how does he know them. Sakura wanted to ask him questions she had been dying to know but now wasn't the time, Sakura had to get free. Naruto's transformation had already reached his 3-tailed form. '_Sakura, remember that if Naruto reaches his 4th tail. He will completely lose sight on friend or foe. He will attack anything and everything.' Kakashi told Sakura. _

Naruto and Sasuke landed a punch on each other's face, equal in power they both flew back, creating another hole through the trees. Sakura struggled further, Orochimaru's threatening doesn't seem to be working anymore. "Naruto! Sasuke! Snap out of it!" she shouted.

She felt something heavy , chakra so strong that it became the only thing Sakura could feel. Her eyes widened 'No... anything but that... If those two attacks collide their bodies won't be able to hold' Sakura had to get free, somehow...

Orochimaru's eyebrows furrowed. 'What's happening with this girl'

Naruto had a huge rasengan coated with red chakra in his hand, eyes vicious and nails sharpened, red chakra leaking and coating his body. Sasuke had black marks covering his body, eyes like a zombie and a silver chidori in his right hand.

"HAAAA!" they both cried as they shot at each other like bullets. They was a collision, lightning sparks flew everywhere along with Naruto's red chakra. They pushed head on, none of them willing to give in. The force was more than Orochimaru had predicted, the force of chakra began to destroy everything around it. They had to retreat. Sakura took this chance to snap free. She jumped right into the core of the explosion. "Tch..." Orochimaru covered the lower part of his face before jumping back.

He was reunited with his loyal assistant. "What were you doing Kabuto" said Orochimaru. "Collecting data on Haruno Sakura" he said, pushing up his glasses. Before touching his stomach. "Looks like that she did quite the damage on you" snickered Orochimaru. "Indeed..." said Kabuto. Orochimaru broke out into a coughing fit. "We should return, Orochimaru-sama. Our business here is done" said Kabuto, going under the arm of his master and forming a seal. They disappeared in a ball of smoke.

The chaos of the chakra began to fade, blood dripped on the floor. Both guys eyed the kunoichi with surprised expressions. Sakura was holding their hands, her own was bleeding, she stood in the middle, looking down at their hands in front of her. Their chakras were no longer there but they remained there. Their hands were so much bigger than hers. She gave a painful smile before she wrapped her fingers around their hands. "I told you to get along now, Didn't I...?" she said, softly as she squeeze their hands. Her own were trembling, whether of fear that her teammates would not be the same once she looked up or cause of the pain, she did not know.

Sasuke's black marks began to fade his eyes returned to their intense onyx shine. Sakura felt Sasuke's hold on her hand she looked at him. Naruto's chakra began to subside as well. Before a sword came swinging by, knocking Sakura and Sasuke away. Kisame landed at where Sasuke and Sakura were standing, "Heh, The Kyubi's character has finally taken over huh" said Kisame.

Naruto stood, wide eyed and teeth baring. He took over at Sakura and Sasuke. Sasuke was fine, but Sakura on the other hand was bleeding. She held her arm, trying to stop the heavy bleeding. She gasped "Naruto...!"

Naruto's knuckles cracked, Sasuke's head snapped from Sakura's wound to Naruto "Shit"

Red chakra exploded upwards, creating a hole in the sky. The clouds were dyed red and looks as if a storm was approaching. Naruto was in the middle of the chakra, his eyes turning black and his three tails grew into four. Kisame tightened his grip on his sword, his eyes dancing with delight . Naruto laid his hollow eyes on the fish man. He took off, in a few seconds Kisame was nothing by a bloody pulp in the ground.

Only then did they realize, it was another man. They were tricked, it was just an average shinobi whose body was used by Hoshigaki Kisame worst of all, it was a fellow konoha shinobi. That wasn't the main problem now, how were they going to calm Naruto down now.

Kakashi merely told Sakura to prevent this, he didn't tell her what to do in this situation. Before she could even think of a plan, Sasuke took off from her side. "Sasuke...!" she gasped then winced at the pain that shot through her arm. She won't be able to use her left arm as she wishes now. She bit her lip, Sasuke's chakra is already exhausted. _What are they going to do_, what could be so powerful that it would bring Naruto's head back, if only she could use the technique Yamato-taichou could use with his kekkai genkai.

Sasuke was only managing to hold his ground with Naruto's four-tails, but that was all he could manage at the moment, not able to deal any real damage. His kusanagi clashing with Naruto's metal sharp claws. _Clang. clang. clang._

Her mind going at 100 mph, Sakura was starting to get frustrated. What can she _do_. Her eyes widened. "Sasuke!" she called out to him. Getting the attention of the raven head, but he still kept his eyes on Naruto. If he let his eyes divert for even a second he would be dead. "What is it, Sakura" he said, before jumping up then slamming his kusanagi down at one of Naruto's claws that tried to go after him.

"Let me take over"

Sasuke paused, bad move. Naruto's tail swung at him, sending him flying back. If it was anyone else, they would've crashed into the ground but Sasuke managed to successfully land swiftly on his feet before leaping at Naruto once again. "Are you crazy? You're in no shape to fight" he snapped, eyes still fixated on Naruto. It was true, Sakura was covered in bruises and blood from head to toe.

"And neither are _you_" her voice was firm and clear. Sasuke was still unconvinced "I have a plan" Sakura tried once again. Sasuke flipped and then jumped again, avoid a smash from one of Naruto's tail. He could see that the 5th tail was slowly being formed behind. "Sasuke, _Let me take over_" Sakura repeated, it wasn't a request. It was a command. Sasuke didn't have a choice.

He landed and jumped to the side and let Sakura come out of hiding whereas he stood where she once stood. Examining Sakura's movements out of worry. Sakura was handling Naruto pretty well considering her left hand is out of commission. No matters, her right hand is all she needed to do this. She flung a kunai at Naruto, missing him by a centimeter. Sasuke's eyes narrowed, there is no way Sakura could miss. The Naruto-beast let out a ear-piercing yowl. Sakura's eyes furrow, her right hand still holding on to a kunai. She stood her ground as he took off after her, ready to tear her apart.

Sakura threw the kunai to the ground. "Naruto" she said, gently. Her eyes showing no signs of a fight. "I don't want to fight you" she said. Naruto halted, a low growl hanging at the back of his throat. "I know you're in there, Naruto" Sakura pleaded in her eyes.

A roar, then a leap.

The sound of bones breaking and flesh being torn.

_.drip._

Sakura merely stood there, eyes widened and hands trembling. Blood. There was so much blood. Sasuke's blood. She opened her mouth but she could not get the words out.

Naruto's hand was stabbed almost all the way through Sasuke's gut. The raven head coughed, blood sprayed to the ground. He didn't dare look at Sakura, he didn't want to know what expression she held right now. "Get a grip of yourself, Naruto!" Sasuke snarled at his blonde teammate, whose not so blonde now.

The Naruto-beast looked taken aback. "Didn't you swear? That you would never try to hurt Sakura for as long as you live." Sasuke panted, wincing in pain he paused "I was there, I _heard_ you. What are you doing now" he sounded angrier and in pain but his voice was carried out strongly.

"Cause if you decide to go against your words now, I swear I'll _fucking _kill you" Sasuke threatened, his glare piercing into Naruto. The hostility in his eyes faded completely as Naruto's will resurfaced and finally realized what he was doing. _Sasuke!_ His mind called, but he couldn't speak, every part of his body felt like it was covered in flames, scorching him skinless.

Sakura could feel the chakra fade, Sasuke managed to get through to him. His words were powerful enough to reason with a rampant Naruto or rather, his intention to protect Sakura.

A human resurfaced and the claw was pulled out of Sasuke, sending a gush of blood to leak from the Uchiha's body. Naruto took a few steps back as his body returned to normal, except for his skin. It had been scorched clean during his Kyuubi transformation due to the corrosive chakra. He landed on his back with a hard thud. "N-Naruto...!" gasped Sakura, snapping out of the trance. As she tried to run to him, Sasuke began to fall.

Sakura quickly caught him and slowly set him down to lie down, his shoulder leaning against hers as she held him. Naruto's chakra felt stable, for now she had to do something about Sasuke's blood flow. "Sasuke. Sasuke?" she stammered, her hands trembling and nearly forgetting that she was a medical nin. Sasuke's eyes were half closed, he looked at her through his hooded gaze. Sakura attempted to heal him, she didn't even know where to start with her mind not functioning properly, there was just so much _blood._ Oh god, it was flowing. She had to try and stop it before she could fix anywhere else. "Sakura" he said, surprisingly there was still dignity lingering in his tone. Sakura sighed in relief, he spoke. "Just hang on a little more, okay?" her voice wavering.

In the midst of her healing she spoke out of the sudden "Why... Why!" she gritted her teeth, eyes beginning to sting. Sasuke knew exactly what she meant "You said you'd let me takeover! I was doing just fine! You needn't jump out!" she tried to sound strong and not sound like she was crying, because she was.

Sasuke smirked, even in his situation the bastard could smirk. "I said I would let you takeover, I never said I was going to sit aside and watch you get hurt" he muttered, sounding tired now. His eyes closing and opening slowly. "You didn't need to cut in!" she snapped. "Then tell me... Sakura. If I said I was going to jump in front of a blade to protect you, would you sit still and let me do it?" he asked almost sarcastically.

"Of course not!" she answered immediately. "Of course not..." she repeated softly. "Then we understand each other, because-" he took her hand. "I can't sit still when I see that you're about to get hurt"

"Then why!" she cried, "You knew I wouldn't let you, so why did you come out!" she was sobbing now. Sasuke squeezed her hand, he didn't need to answer that. It was obvious, because he loved her. Sakura's tears began to fall like rain. As a medial nin she knew, she knew that Sasuke's situation was grim, he needed a proper operation and even on the operating table his chances are slim, she could drag him back to the village but she couldn't just leave Naruto.

His blood isn't stopping, the ground was completely drenched in his blood. Sakura wasn't about to give up, she can heal him, she can still save him. However Sasuke himself knew, it was _his_ body afterall. "Sakura" he began "I-" the rosette cut him off, not liking where he was going "Listen to me listen to me, you're going to be fine. Please... just don't leave me" Sakura hugged him, she pressed her cheek again his forehead as she held him up.

Suddenly, Sasuke's will to live sparked back to life, but it was too late. His vision started to blur and his eyes began to close. "Sa...suke?" Sakura asked, panicking. Her hands trembled as one was on Sasuke's stomach, still glowing green and the other at his shoulder, holding him, caressing him.

"Sasuke...!" Sakura prayed that his eyes would open and he would smile. "Don't..." she breathed "Leave me..."

She felt so alone, the dark memories of her past flooded back.

She nearly lost Naruto, and now Sasuke.

She wished Naruto was here, by her side. That boy always knew what he wanted and what to do. If only she hadn't been so naive to believe that her good will alone would be able to stop Naruto, if only.

_Sakura. What do you want now?_

For Sasuke to come back to me...

_Why? _

Because-

"I love you..." Sakura whispered to Sasuke's pale body, voice weak as she cried.

_Then what's stopping you_

The sound of a bell, a light ringing sound filled the forest. Leaves clashing, branches swaying as the wind blew, Sakura's body began to glow green, coated in her own chakra she held on to Sasuke. Eyes glowing bright green. Her chakra was split into 5 parts, each representing one element. Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Lightning.

_One Teardrop. Two Teardrops. Three Teardrops. Four Teardrops. Five-_

Each spark of chakra started to circle her. She gripped onto the Uchiha's sleeve. The intensity in the atmosphere picked up, her hair blew around wildly. A bright flash. Sakura's vision blurred and the world began to tilt to one side.

_Thud._

Next Chapter

"She's awake!"

"Every word"

"No, that just proved we're not strong enough."

"They're still young! You can't us to keep them here forever!"

"Library, again?"

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**So? Tell me what you think. And stick around, you might not know when another chapter will poop from the sky again. :D**


	9. Hidden Secrets and a Plot

**Hi guys, I know updates have been very slow but I'll work on that. Meanwhile enjoy this new chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto! It belongs to Kishimoto Masashi!**

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**Hidden Secrets and a Plot**

"Sakura..."

She turned "Who is it"

In a pool of blood, laid Sasuke's limp body. A rush of panic hit Sakura "S-Sasuke...!" she stammered and ran to him, but she never got there. She reached out her hand as Sasuke just slipped further from her. Sakura fell.

"She's awake!"

Sakura's eyes shot open. She looked up, the bright light hurting her eyes. _Was it... day time?_ Slowly, the green orbs dart across the room as they took time to focus. She recognized the woman standing next to her bed. She was a nurse at Konoha's General Hospital. Does that mean she was back at the village? Her memories were hazy, she remembered that she was sent on a mission. And then-

She gasped and just in time, her room door slid open roughly and hit the bump with a loud bang.

Two young men, panting and shoulders heaving. Stood at her door. But they weren't just any two young men, they were _her_ two young men. Sasuke... he was fine...

_Thank god..._ Sakura's eyes landed on the raven-haired Uchiha whom she thought had died, but here he was, standing in front of her, looking sweaty and tired. _How long have I been sleeping?_

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto was first to speak, he lunged at Sakura. Throwing his arms around her and sobbing words Sakura could not understand as it was muffled in her hospital robe. She gave his blonde teammate a light pat on the back and rubbed it gently as she smiled. _He was still the same Naruto. _She pushed all the thoughts of the Kyuubi away. Naruto is Naruto, the Kyuubi is the Kyuubi. She looked down almost in a motherly way at Naruto's back before her eyes travelled up a pair of camo green pants and met the obsidian eyes of Uchiha Sasuke. Her heart began to race, clearly being showed in the monitor next to her bed. Her cheeks turned bright red seeing that she'd been exposed. She quickly looked away and let go of Naruto.

She gave a nervous laugh and smiled "Good to see you both fine" she said rather softly. "You really scared us there, Sakura-chan!" he said. "How are you feeling now?" Sasuke asked, surprisingly. "Great!" chirped Sakura, she attempted to get off the bed. Before realizing she can't gather the strength to hold herself. Sasuke held her up. Geez how long as she been out?

"E-Eh? I can't move myself" she said, slightly panicking. "You should stay in bed" said Sasuke, helping her get back on the bed. "Thanks..." she said, sounding a little depressed. "How long have I been unconscious?" she asked. Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other "a week"

Sakura felt a stab in the heart. What exactly happened...?

Just then, there was a thunderous bang and the door was flung open. "Sakura! You up?"

"Tsunade-sama...!" gasped Sakura. "Prepare yourself for a week's worth of paperwork! What kind of a medic nin would exhaust herself to the extent of falling into a coma for a week!" Tsunade said roughly, but anyone could tell she was worried for her own student, the Hokage doesn't come visit just anyone for being unconscious for a week.

Sakura smiled "Yes, Tsunade-sama"

Tsunade nodded "Good to see you awake, Sakura" she turned to the nurse "Give her an A Level checkup" she said. The young nurse was immediately at alert "Yes ma'am" she squeaked and disappeared out the room to get ready. Tsunade crossed her arms "Do you remember what happened before you blacked out" she said.

Sakura's brows furrowed, what happened before she blacked out

_'I love you'_

Sakura's face turned red. _I don't think that's relevant information._

"I-I'm not quite sure, but I do remember-" she gasped and turned to Sasuke "Sasuke!" she cried suddenly then lunged at him from the bed and lifted his shirt. "S-Sakura?" The rosette look at his smooth pale abs. Scar less and wound free. "The wound Naruto gave you... it's not there. You were supposed to be dead" she said, looking up at him. "Hah?" said Tsunade. "Sakura-chan, I think you must've hit your head pretty hard" said Naruto. "No, she's right. I died" said Sasuke, pulling his shirt back down.

"HAH?"

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's face and began pulling on it "Does this mean you're a ghost?" he asked, slapping his face a little. Sasuke shoved him all the way to the other side of the room. "I didn't die died, but I felt like I was dead, before something pulled me back" said Sasuke. "Why wasn't this in your report?" said Tsunade. "I didn't think putting 'I died' in my report would be a very intelligent thing to do with no proof" said Sasuke. "Sakura, do you remember doing anything before you passed out? Because Sasuke and Naruto's wounds were completely gone when they woke up and found you" said Tsunade.

The nurse came in with all the needed utensils. As she performed the procedures on the rosette, Sakura thought hard. "It felt like... my heart exploding" she muttered. "What do you mean" said Tsunade. "When Sasuke's pulse stopped, I don't know. Maybe my mind couldn't handle it or something. I felt all the chakra in me just explode out"

"You'd better rest for these few days" said Tsunade, her expression sinking as she left the room "You'll be released from the hospital in a few days" she said before closing the door.

"Alright, say 'aaaa'"

Sakura opened her mouth "Aaaa"

After a couple more minutes, the nurse bowed at the door and shut it. Leaving the rosette alone with her teammates. "AH! I was supposed to go meet Yamato-senpai for training!" Sakura jumped at Naruto's sudden outburst. "Sorry, Sakura-chan. I'll come visit you again tomorrow" he said before opening the window and jumping out, leaving it open. Sasuke sighed and walked over to close the window.

"Sasuke" He paused at the sudden call of his name."Yeah?" he answered, placing his hands at the window and pushing it down.

There was a pregnant pause. Sakura began "I-I was wondering..."her soft voice trailed off. "If I heard you during the last moments of my life?" finished Sasuke. "Right?" he turned around to look at her. "So you heard what I said...?" said Sakura, sounding nervous. "Every word" Sasuke added.

"Oh..."

"I'll give you an answer right now" said Sasuke. Sakura looked up, surprised "N-N-Now...?"

Sasuke took hold of her chin and leaned over, Sakura's hands clenched her white sheets as she felt him gently brushing his lips on hers. He straightened to take a look at her expression. Sakura was looking down at her clenched hands, biting her lips and her face growing redder by the second. Sasuke smirked. "S-S-So..." Sakura cleared her throat. "A-Are we... married now?"

Sasuke choked on air. "M-Married?"

"Y-Yeah... Ino lent me a novel. The couple in the story k-kissed and got married" said Sakura. Sasuke stopped himself from laughing out loud. "You must've missed the most important part. You have to agree to be my girlfriend first" he said. sliding his hands into his pockets. "Girl...friend? Wasn't I your friend and a girl before?" said Sakura. "Yeah, but now. You belong to me and I only belong to you" said Sasuke, he cupped her cheeks and touched his forehead against hers.

Sakura, seemingly getting the idea, smiled.

The door opened. "Sakura-san, I have your-"

The nurse paused as Sakura and Sasuke looked at her. "O-Oh! was I interrupting something ? I'm so sorry. I'll just... put this here" she said said, quickly setting down the tray of food at a nearby table and speed walked out the room, eyes glued to the floor.

"Did we do something to her?" said Sakura. Sasuke shrugged

Sasuke placed the tray on her lap and pulled a chair next to her bed to sit. "Do you want some?" said Sakura, using her spoon to point at the plate of curry and rice. He shook his head silently and just watched as she ate, hunched against the chair and hands limp on his thigh. "Sasuke"

"Hm?"

"About Orochimaru and the Akatsuki..."

"We lost"

"So we did... At least we're alive, it proves we've improved" said Sakura.

"No, That just proved we're not strong enough" he said.

Sakura took in another spoonful. They were quiet for some time, not knowing how to lift the atmosphere.

The next day, Sakura's ward was bombarded with the whole Konoha 12 and Team Yamato. "Why aren't you guys on missions?" asked Sakura. "We just came back, and heard you were you finally woke up" said Ino. Akamaru barked "Hey Kiba! Isn't there a no pets policy in the hospital?" shouted Naruto.

Akamaru growled at Naruto "Akamaru's not a pet. He's a ninja-hound" corrected Kiba. "Sakura-san! Are you okay now? I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you! BUT! Getting injured is part of the blossoming of your rich youth!" shouted Lee, half sobbing. "God, Lee. You're so embarrassing" said Tenten. "YOUTH!" he suddenly shouted. "Sorry, Sakura. Is he being too noisy, I'll kick him out now" said Tenten, pulling on Lee's ear "Ow ow ow ow, Tenten you're hurting me"

"It's alright. It feels nice having some excitement in here" said Sakura. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Tenten let go of Lee's ear. "Ah... Sakura-san. Your kindness is on par with your youthful beauty!" said Lee, with his hand on his heart.

"Sakura! I don't know what I would've done if you didn't wake up" said Takuya, taking her by the hand. He could feel a glare drilling into his head. He looked to the other side of the bed where Sasuke was drilling holes with his eyes. So the glaring contest began, suddenly everyone in the room felt really uncomfortable. "Those two are at it again..." said Tenten, rubbing the back of her head. "No one can stop them now" muttered Neji.

"You two seem to be getting along well" smiled Sakura. Eventually their glares subsided, and the two of them looked away from each other with a huff. Takuya still refused to let go of Sakura's hand, giving Sasuke no choice. He walked over to Sakura and pushed a kiss onto her cheek. Earning him the stares of everyone in the room then there was silence before Naruto ruined it "TEME WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?"

Takuya joined him "That's sexual harassment!" he pointed at the raven head. Sasuke raised an eyebrow 'I don't want to hear that from you' he thought. "Get your hands off Sakura-chan!" roared Takuya. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the brown-haired latter. "Ah, It's fine. Cause Sasuke's my boyfriend now" smiled Sakura.

"EHHHHHH!"

"H-H-How did this happen! No- WHEN! SAKURA-CHAN WHEN!" Takuya knelt down on the ground and looked up at Sakura, as if he was begging for something. "Yesterday afternoon" answered Sakura. The girls pushed the guys out of the room and surrounded Sakura's bed, like flocks of bird crowding around breadcrumbs. "How did you do it, Sakura!" urged Ino.

"Which one of you asked?" said Tenten.

"D-D-Did you confess...?" asked Hinata.

"E-Erm..." exclaimed Sakura, nervously. Not knowing who to answer first.

"Tell us!" the three girls chorused.

Sakura jumped a little before looking down at her sheets, her cheeks turning rosy, she smiled. "I don't really know what happened. I didn't realize how much I loved him till he was bleeding to death in my arms" said Sakura as if that was the most usual thing in the world. The atmosphere immediately changed from intense to pure sympathy "P-Poor Sasuke..." said Ino. Tenten and Hinata nodded. Sakura looked at them in a weird way, wondering what's wrong with their expression.

Ino sighed, "I can't confess to Shikamaru on his death bed..." Ino muttered almost inaudibly. Tenten made a perverted face at her. "W-What!" snapped Ino. "If you really like him then you should just confess to him already" said Tenten. Ino frowned and turned away from Tenten in a huff "It's not as simple as taking a bull by its horns, what if he rejects me then every time we're together it'll be too awkward. And it will get in the way of missions" said Ino. Tenten sat down on the bed and rubbed her chin thoughtfully "Now that you pointed that out..." Tenten said, nervously.

"That shouldn't be the case. If you confess to them you'll feel a lot better. Whether they accept or not is not important, it's the fact that you managed to gather the courage to tell them your feelings. If they reject then you'll just go back to being friends" said Sakura. Everyone looked at her, surprised that the densest of them all had just giving them all advice on love. The sky must be falling.

"S-Sakura-san's right..." muttered Hinata. Tenten rubbed the back of her head nervously and Ino looked down. "Hehe, I never thought of it as simple as that" said Tenten. The door slid open all of the sudden "I believe you girls have hogged Sakura for long enough" said Sasuke. Ino bear hugged Sakura "We're not giving her back" she mocked him and stuck her tongue out. Sasuke raised his eyebrows "We can't have that now can we" he said.

"No way..."

They only saw his legs widen.

And there he was, sitting at Sakura's bedside. 'So fast...!' the girls thought. "Oi teme! Unlock the door!" they heard Naruto cry from outside. "AHHH TSUNADE BAA-CHA- NGOOA" they could heard Naruto's head being smashed into the floor and the others escaping. "You morons! This is a hospital not a ninja playground where you can shout all you want!" Tsunade roared. She nearly ripped the door out when she opened it. She glared at everyone in the room. "Visiting times are over, Sakura needs to rest. Everyone needs to leave" she said, her hands on her hips.

Everyone nodded stiffly. "See ya, Sakura" "Get well soon" "T-Thanks for the advice..." Ino, Tenten and Hinata bade her before quickly stepping out of the room. Sasuke stood his ground for awhile "When I said everyone, that includes you too, Sasuke" said Tsunade, eyes narrowing at Sasuke. "Well I tried" he muttered then bent down to give Sakura a kiss on the cheek before exiting the room. As he turned to the hallways he took the trouble to drag Naruto's beaten up corpse along.

Tsunade sighed "I'm not getting any younger with them around" said Tsunade. Sakura shrugged "Boys will be boys" she smiled. Tsunade chuckled "Rest well, Sakura" said Tsunade. Sakura nodded as her mentor left the room, leaving her along once more. Sakura looked down at her sheets, unconsciously her hands clenched at the sheets, she scowled.

The next morning...

BOOOM

"Gahh...!"

Sasuke was send pummeling to the ground, back skidding against the dirt then tumbling backwards then against a tree.

"Naive, Sasuke. If I was seriously trying to kill you, you'd be dead right now"

"Shut up!"

_Clang. Clang. Tiiing. _

Sasuke swung a kick at Itachi before he disappeared. Sasuke threw the kunai he was holding towards his right, with a quick switch. Itachi turned into a log, the kunai stabbed into it before exploding. Sasuke activated his sharingan and they immediately came in contact with Itachi's. He canceled out Itachi's attempt to cast an illusion on him then flung a handful of shuriken at him. Itachi countered with his own without problem.

The two broke out into a shuriken war, both pulling the throwing stars out of their wrists that already have the seal tattooed, allowing them to summon it and throw it in a split second. Both equally matched, till-

"Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu"

Sasuke's eyes widened 'When did he-' He leaped out of the way before he was engulfed by the violent flames. He pulled a Chidori out of nowhere and started to run at Itachi, the older Uchiha carefully dodged Sasuke's lunges. 'An opening...!' Sasuke shoved a hand Itachi's face-

Caught, his hand wouldn't budge. He was caught. "You're still naive, Sasuke" mocked Itachi.

_Shing_.

"The naive one is you, Nii-san"

"Oh?"

Itachi smirked at the blade on his neck. Sasuke's Kusanagi. "Let's stop here" Sasuke pulled back and sheathed his sword, dispelling his clone as well. The Itachi turned out to be a clone and well and exploded into a flock of crows. As he walked to the trees so that he may past the training area and get to town, the real Itachi was waiting for him on a branch. "Going to see Sakura again, I see" said Itachi. Sasuke picked up his towel from the ground and hung it around his neck and ignored his brother. The sun was just beginning to rise as he exits the forest and into the town where everything was beginning to wake. He stopped at a public tap and turned it on before pulling his head underneath, letting the water run through, washing away all the dirt and dust stuck in his hair from training.

Moments later he lifted his head and gave it a little shake, sending drops of water everywhere before he pulled a towel over his raven head and began to walk to the hospital as he dried his hair.

The hospital hasn't opened for visitors yet, however Sasuke wasn't going in through the front door. 3rd floor, 4th window from the left. He was going through her window. In a flash he crouched next to her window, he gave the window a push to find that it's unlocked. "Oi oi, that's dangerous" he scowled then slipped inside.

The little rosette was still asleep, he ruffled his hair and approached her bedside. She stirred, he paused. She was facing him now 'That vulnerable sleeping face' He couldn't help but to reach out and touch her.

In a swift motion, Sakura swung an instinctive punch at him. Sasuke had nearly forgotten about Sakura's childhood habit of defending herself in her sleep. He caught her fist and opened up her hands, slipping his fingers between hers. "Mm... Sasuke?" Her eyes opened slightly then smiled. He sat down on the chair at her bedside. She sat up, he protested. "You need to rest"

She pushed his hands away "It's fine, I can do that anytime I want" Sasuke could hear it in her voice, something's on her mind that's bothering her. "Sasuke? Your hands are cold..." she said, rubbing his hands. She looked up and met his eyes "Have you been training again?" she asked.

Sasuke didn't answer, instead Sakura smiled at him "You shouldn't leave your hair like that, you'll catch a cold" Sasuke lowered his head so that she didn't need to reach that far to get to his head. She helped him dry his hair the best they could go with only a towel. But what she wasn't aware of was his blushing face underneath the towel.

"Ah, I forgot. The doctor says I can be released in another few days" she said. "I see... that's good" said Sasuke. Sakura nodded. "What are you thinking about, Sakura?" he asked. Sakura looked down at her hands. "As I am now, I can't do anything" she muttered then turned to Sasuke then reached out to touch his stomach "That wound... You flinch whenever someone tries to touch it. Even though it has completely closed, it's still there" said Sakura, a tint of sadness showing in her eyes "If only I wasn't so naive and weak..."

"You're not the only one that feels that way... Naruto... Me.. You don't have to blame yourself" said Sasuke. _sniff_. Sasuke looked at her, surprised. She was, crying? "-hic- I know that -hic- I knew you would say that... -hic- I knew.. -hic- yet I... I can't... stop crying..." Sakura made a fail attempt to cover her tears by wiping them continuously on her sleeve. Sasuke was at loss for words, so he reacted instinctively. He stood and pulled Sakura into a hug, unconsciously stroking her hair as he ran his hands up and down her back to help ease her trembling.

He didn't say anything at first, rather he didn't know what to say. But Sakura could understand the boy just fine. She buried her face into his collar. Then finally he spoke. "I'll become even stronger" They stayed still "I'll become even stronger so just watch, you don't have to do anything. I'll become so strong the akatsuki won't know what hit them." Sasuke tightened his grip around Sakura "Heh, so you won't have to cry like this ever again... okay?"

The tears overwhelmed Sakura she couldn't help but whimper a small reply "Okay... okay..."

Meanwhile in meeting between the Hokage and the village elders...

Tsunade slammed a palm on top of the desk. "What is the meaning of this!"

"Exactly what it sounds like, it's too risky for squadron 7 to be send out of missions, not with Orochimaru and The Akatsuki at large."

"We must not let them have their way at all costs"

"Whatever they're plotting cannot be good for the sake of the future"

Tsunade clenched up hands on top of the order scroll, waiting for her to place her signature. She threw it off the table "But that doesn't give you the right to ban them from taking any further missions outside of the village. It's just as bad as ripping the wing off a butterfly." protested Tsunade.

The elderly man in the glasses, Homura Mitokado. And the old lady in the sash, Utatane Koharu. The two elders that always disagrees with Tsunade. She used to hate their guts, but now she hates them inside out. "You are still letting your personal feelings interfere with your decisions. You are still young, Tsunade-hime" said Koharu. "This is for the sake of the village, you must believe that. And for the sake of the village's future, sacrifices have to be made." said Mitokado.

Tsunade gritted her teeth "But they're still young! You can't expect us to just keep them here forever" Tsunade nearly shouted in their face, she straightened "Those kids... they have so much potential..." she scowled then glared at the elders "I refuse to sign such an order" concluded Tsunade. Then from the shadows came a new voice, deep and husky. "If the hokage refuses to sign it, the order can still be issue with the combined signatures of the village elders."

Tsunade clenched her fist and glared whole-heartedly at the newcomer of the conversation "Shimura... Danzo" she growled. "Fifth" Danzo addressed her back then turned to the elders "For the safety of squadron 7 and the village, this order must be issued. I am willing to lend my signature. The rest is up to you" said Danzo. Tsunade looked alarmed for a moment, she couldn't just stand by and let a bunch of old people push her around like that. She was the Hokage for god sake. Before anymore could be said, Tsunade cut in.

"3 months"

The elders looked at her "What are you getting at-"

Tsunade held up 3 fingers as gesture "Give them 3 months, and they will prove to you that they are capable of handling themselves"

"And if they do not meet our expectations?" said Danzo. "Then I shall sign the papers, myself" she said, eyes challenging Danzo. The atmosphere was intense, even Tsunade herself could feel the heat of the pressure. "Very well" Danzo said finally. "Well then I'll excuse myself" He nodded before returned to the darkness. "I hope you placed your bet on the right side this time, Tsunade-hime" said Koharu, standing up with Mitokado "We look forward watching their progress" he elder man said.

The door closed with a _clack_Tsunade smirked "Heh... this is going to be a gamble..." she straightened and walked to the door 'So what will you do? Naruto, Sasuke... Sakura'

The night came all too quickly, Naruto sat at a bench in the park. All beaten up after his training and covered in dirt. He rubbed his hands together and felt the rough surface of his palm, his bright blue eyes had never looked so depressed. 'Ah, it's fine. Cause Sasuke's my boyfriend now'

In an instant his eyes widened and he clenched his hands together. 'Those two... looked so happy together...' he dropped his head and stared at the ground with those lifeless eyes. The happy faces of Sakura and Sasuke taunting him. He shook his head and shooed away all the jealousy he felt for them. 'What am I doing...! My best friend and my first love are so happy together, It's not right for me to be this depressed!' He suddenly sat up, and looked full of energy.

After awhile he flopped back and slumped down on the bench like cloth being hung out. "Ah... I guess it's impossible for me to be happy whole heartedly for them..." He threw his arm over his eyes "I'm sorry guys..." he muttered. His body felt so full of fatigue, so tired, he himself drifting asleep. Till there was a presence.

_A familiar presence_.

He moved his arm away from his eyes. "N-Naruto-k-kun are you okay?" the petit, opal eyed girl asked him, her bright eyes shining under the moonlight. In fact, her eyes reminded him a lot of the moon. "Hinata? What are you doing out so late at night" he asked. "O-Oh... I was e-erm..." she looked down at her bruising hands then quickly hid them behind her back "J-Just taking a walk" she muttered then looked at Naruto "W-What about... N-Naruto-kun" she asked. Naruto paused then faked a laughed "Just taking a walk" he said. Hinata looked down "M-May I?" she said, looking at the seat next to him.

Naruto turned to where she was looking and jumped aside "Of course". The dark haired girl settled herself next to the blonde. Then there was silence, it seemed like neither of them knew what to say, because usually Naruto would be loud mouthedly boasting about himself and how godly his technique is.

So this time, Hinata gathered the courage to speak first "D-Does it bother you?" she paused "Sakura-chan and Sasuke-kun's relationship" she added. Naruto's eyes widened then he laughed it off "So you found out" he grinned cheekily. Hinata did not speak, Naruto sighed then cried out "Ahh! Damn that Sasuke! He got to her before I could!" he cried out in frustration then threw his hands over his head "Well, I knew I didn't stand a chance in the first place." He twitched "When those two get married I'm so going to crash their wedding" said Naruto rather determinedly then laughed loudly before lowering his head again. Hinata was playing her thumbs on her lap as she listened. He buried his head in his hand as if he wanted to cry.

He felt a soft touch on his back, patting softly "I think... Naruto-kun isn't jealous over the fact that Sasuke-kun won over Sakura-chan's heart. I think he's worried about his friendship with his teammates..." Hinata said. Naruto didn't move from his position "That might be so...I was just thinking... Would they forget about me once they have each other...?" muttered Naruto but Hinata heard it just fine. Hinata sat back on the bench "Naruto-kun should believe in his teammates more" she said. Naruto looked at her, she was staring at the sky, eyes gleaming under the moonlight, then she smiled "I don't think Sasuke-kun and Sakura-chan are that forsake their comrades that easily" she looked at him "Believe in them"

Naruto slowly straightened, eyes mesmerized by Hinata who was usually so shy and quiet yet now he's here being lectured by her. He reached out-

_Shhhk_

"N-Naruto-kun...!"

"I'm sorry, let me stay like this for awhile"

Naruto had completely wrapped his arms around the small Hinata's body, leaning his head on her shoulder like a spoiled boy hugging his mother. Hinata's face was practically glowing red, she was thankful that he couldn't see. Hesitantly she moved her hand slowly up hug him back, patting his back soothingly. "Thank you... Hinata" he let go of her then gave her a wide grin. He looked down and noticed her hands were covered in wounds "You've been training again, haven't you" he said. Hinata realized her hands were exposed, "A-Ah... yeah" she said. "Just a little training..." she trailed off "Even I want to get stronger" she muttered. Naruto smiled with his teeth "Then let's work hard and get stronger together" he said, holding out his hand. Hinata looked at it, her have turning red as she took it. His hands were so warm and so rough. This could very well be the happiest night of her life.

A week have passed since Sakura was released from the hospital, the guys are training extra hard and Sakura's busy in the library, researching about her kekkei genkai and the possibilities of a Pure resurrection technique. Tsunade watched closely at their progress and ceased giving them missions so that they have more time to train.

The three trained separately and rarely met, sometimes the boys wouldn't even come home at all and Sakura would be caught spending the night at the library. When Sasuke had time he would search the village for Sakura but he always finds her in the same place.

"Library again" it was more of a statement than a question. Sakura looked up from her book and her face immediately lightened "On training break?" she asked. He pulled on the chair next to hers and sat down "Nii-san had been sent out on a mission" he said. Sakura closed the heavy book and pushed it aside before opening another book. Being able to read this many books in such a short time isn't something a human can do. Sasuke looked around in Sakura's area of the library which was stacked with books about chakra and techniques. Sakura frowned "I feel like I'm so close, but I'm missing the main point... what is it" she leaned on her hand on the table and sighed.

Sasuke grabbed her hand, causing her to jump at his touch. "Walk with me " he said, stoically. "O-Oh okay" the rosette obeyed quietly as he led her out the library and into the sunlight. Sakura hadn't notice she'd been in the library for 2 days already. The instant her body remembered the fatigue washed over her like a wave. Her knees felt weak and then suddenly she felt weightless.

"It's not good for you health if you coop up like that" Sasuke told her as he took a walk on the rooftops of Konoha, taking a shortcut to the empty Uchiha district. "I-It's fine, I can walk by myself!" squeaked Sakura. Sasuke didn't let her down and before she knew it, they were in her room only then did he allow himself to let go of her. "Get some sleep, you can continue your research once you wake up" he said, walking out.

He felt something tug at his sleeve. "Take a nap with me" she beamed brightly at him. Sasuke's hand flew to his mouth to hide his growing blush, he stepped back and away from Sakura who took it as a rejection. "Ah, it's okay... if you don't want to" she mumbled and looked down.

"Okay"

Sakura looked up to and their eyes met, Sasuke still had the lower half of his face hidden. "I-It's just a nap" he stuttered, mentally beating himself up for doing that. Sakura smiled and crawled into bed as Sasuke settled himself down next to her for her nap though Sasuke could do nothing of the sort, his heart was trying to slam a hole in his chest, his head felt dizzy from her scent and his body is reacting violently just by being on the same bed as Sakura. He had to stay focus or he'll lose himself.

The rosette was always snoring lightly, the raven head couldn't help but turn to look at her. Once he started he could no longer look away, her hair falling all over her gentle face and how her lips slightly pouted as she slept. He etched closer to her and watched her sleep in peace.

He blinked and suddenly had a strange feeling, it was as if he-

as if he slept like this with Sakura before- He must be too tired, he should try sleeping too.

_Psssshhhh_

Sakura plucked her eyes open, Sasuke wasn't there and the shower was running. He must've went to take a shower. Sakura grinned cheekily and hugged the sheets that now smell like Sasuke. _'If I were to get married to Sasuke...' _she looked towards her bathroom door _'then mornings would most probably be like this' _she giggled inwardly then rolled around on bed. She paused _'If Sasuke and I were to have a child... what would we name him/her?' _ Sakura rolled over to lie on her stomach and thought it through.

By the time Sasuke came out of the showers she hasn't moved from the spot. "Sakura?" said Sasuke, still blur from the fact he took a shower in Sakura's room and currently have Sakura's towel wrapped around his _ehem _. He stared at the pink haired girl swinging her legs up and down on the bed. She smiled at him "Hi Sasuke"

Sasuke looked down at the towel that's separating her and his manhood then back at Sakura. "S-Sorry" he stammered "It's fine, I'll just wash it later" said Sakura. Sasuke lowered his head in a nod and dashed out the room to his own.

How could he be so careless! He should've noticed the shampoo bottle was a lot lighter than his own (They use the same shampoo) No wonder the toilet looked a bit unfamiliar. What's Sakura gonna think. He mentally groaned and buried his face in his hands first he should put something on and return Sakura's towel. After Sasuke put himself in his usual ninja outfit he looked back at the pale pink towel on his bed. She's going to think he's some kind of freak that wants to use her toiletries and towel but he wasn't too far from that for someone that sniffed her hair when she was asleep. He slammed his forehead on his fist.

At that moment Sakura witness the whole process. "Sasuke...?" she gasped, then dropped the laundry basket with his clothes in it. She grabbed his arm as if afraid he'd hurt himself with his own fist, which he did. "What's wrong? Does it hurt anywhere?" she asked him in a hurry. "Ah, no, I was just-" he cut himself short and just stared at Sakura, not know what to say. _Oh I just felt like punching myself or I felt like a dork next to you so I punched myself._ He can't say that!

Sakura touched his forehead "Ah...look what you did to your forehead. Looks painful..." her light fingertips felt like feathers brushing across his forehead. Ah, she was waaaay too close to his face, now he's dizzy. Whether it was cause of his own punch or Sakura he didn't know, but he suspected it to be both. He couldn't help but stare into her eyes as she soothed his bruising forehead, if only she knew the reason for that injury. "What got into you, Sasuke?" she asked. "Huh?" he said blankly then pulled himself back from her eyes "Oh, just... muscle spasm" he muttered the last part, not very fond of lying to his girlfriend.

Sakura held his arm "Should be fine now" she examined his wrist, pressing pressure points to check. Sasuke smiled a little then pulled from her grip then slipped his fingers between hers. "Yeah I'm fine now"

Sakura looked at their intertwined fingers then smiled, she looked out the window behind Sasuke. "Ah! It's already evening!" she pulled away from Sasuke's hand "I'll go take a shower then make dinner" she said, but before she stepped out of Sasuke's room, she paused then turned and Sasuke watched as her eyes scanned the room. She lunged at something, a white towel. Sasuke's towel. "Payment for using my towel" she stuck out her tongue then smiled before running out the door.

Sasuke smirked.

During dinner, everything was back to normal, it was their first meal together ever since Sakura's release from the hospital and how Sasuke missed Sakura's cooking. Team Kakashi was being torn apart, Naruto and Sasuke would be off somewhere with Jiraiya and Itachi then Sakura would live in the library for days and not come out.

Is this really the way to get stronger?

"Are you going back to the library tomorrow?" asked Sasuke. Sakura shook her head "I've already read through everything related to chakra there. I was hoping to use the Uchiha archive to further my research" said Sakura. "Go ahead, this house is yours as well" said Sasuke. Sakura smiled "Seconds?" she asked Sakura. Sasuke said nothing but hand her his bowl.

The next morning...

Sakura awoke only to catch the flash of Sasuke dashing out the front porch then jumping off, astray from Sakura's sight, she decided to do the laundry first before leaving to camp in the archive. She'd never been there that many times, every time she's in there she felt like she was prying at other people's life. In this case, Sasuke's. But she was going to have to overcome that if she were to find out anything about her chakra resurrection technique and how to use it again.

Little did she know that she was going to find out a lot more than what she wanted.

Next Chapter

"A picture...?"

"Sakura didn't come home last night"

"So you found out..."

"Their time is up!"

"The village is under attack!"

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**What did you think? Did you hate it? Like it? Review and let me know, I love reading reviews from your guys**


	10. In the Rain

**Oh my god guys, I'm so sorry! I uploaded the wrong file! This was supposed to be chapter 10! I didn't realize this till now so I rushed over the manual spell check and uploaded this. Hope you like it, no wonder there were so many PM asking me what the hell is going on! I'm so sorry! **

**Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto.**

**Dedication : This chapter will be for anonymous reviewer Zombie Dude Thanks for taking your time to review all my chapters! You brighten my mood everything I read your review. It's so detailed! **

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**In the Rain **

Sakura had just put the laundry in the washing machine, she was going to the library and start her research as she waits for their clothes to finish washing. She turned the old fashioned doorknob and listened as the door creaked open, the windows were large and they brightened up the room just fine, Sakura stepped in slow and took in the smell of old paper. The Uchiha archive was impressive no matter how many times she's been here.

She walked around to find out where should she start first. 'If I remember correctly, I saw a few books about chakra around here' she thought when she came face to face with the magic turning bookshelf, she couldn't help but give a small smile. Sakura was about to continue her search when a thick book on the top shelf caught her attention 'Emergency Medical Treatment' she knew it's not what she was looking for but her medic instincts took over and she wanted to be prepared for anything and she has never read that book.

She reached for it, but she was too short. Sakura doesn't give up that easily, so she leaned forward and stood on her toes but to no avail could she reach it. She tried stepping on the bottom shelf but when she tried to, the shelf turned, sending Sakura tumbling into the secret chamber once more. "Ow..." she groaned as she got up. "Ah, I'm sent back in..." she dusted herself, then turned, about to go back to the library but she paused 'I remember seeing a few bookshelves of scrolls in the chamber...' curiosity got the best of her and she moved down the path. 'I hope Itachi-san won't mind'

Sakura stepped in to the now door-less chamber. 'Looks like Itachi-san cleared the pieces of the wooden door' she stepped lightly and her memory didn't fail her. There heaps of scrolls in here. Sakura opened them one by one to see what were they were about. Considering there where in scroll form would mean that they were quite ancient. Sakura put those that she found would be useful to her on the table and put the others back in order. After choosing 8 from 3 whole bookshelves she completely forgotten about the laundry, she was in heaven. There was still one shelf she hasn't gone through, however this one was different, the others consisted of only scrolls whereas this held only books.

The weird part is that the books all didn't have a title, the cover page was always blank. Sakura had to open each and every one of them and read the first few pages to find out what kind of book was it. After following the order from top shelf to bottom, Sakura stopped at the second shelf and saw a rather thick book that attracted her. She decided to come back to the rest later after she find out what was that peculiar book. Apparently the book was lighter than it looked, Sakura pushed a few of the scrolls aside and placed it on the table. She reached out to open but some unknown force was stopping her, when she finally touched it her body felt a jolt. _why is my heart beating so fast_. Sakura shook the thought out her head and swallowed before opening it.

When she did, it was just like any ordinary book. With the author of the book in the first page, as usual Sakura dismissed that page and moved on the contents but when she flipped a page, the book had something trapped between the pages and automatically flipped to the page with the bookmark, except it wasn't exactly a bookmark "A picture...?" said Sakura, she picked it up from between the pages. It was a picture of six people, from the right stood a very stern looking man with back hair that ended at his shoulders and his bangs ending right below the side of his onyx eyes, he had line markings across his cheeks from the inside curve of his eyes, although he looked rather unapproachable. If he'd just smile a little he would look rather handsome, though what he was wearing was blocked by the woman standing in front of him, Sakura could make out that he was wearing a jounin vest that she'd seen Kakashi wear and a dark blue shirt in the inside, in front of him was a beautiful woman with dark black hair tied at the bottom side of her head which she swept to the front and over her shoulder with a tint of blue under the lighting her eyes were a pure shade of black, they were squinted as she had a huge smile on her, her hands were joined with the woman next to her, her body slightly turned to the side, she wore her konoha headband across her forehead and allowed her black hair to frame her beautiful face, she was wearing a kimono styled top that covered her body then paired with black thigh pants that covered till her knees. The man beside her didn't stray too far as he stood nearly right behind and squeezed as close to her as he could, giving away his protectiveness of his lover.

The woman that linked her hands with the beautiful black haired woman was just as beautiful, the color of her hair was rather eye catching for it was a bright red color that cascaded around her like a waterfall and her eyes were bright blue. She had a slender body and was slightly taller than the darker haired woman. She was wearing a white yukata styled shirt with sleeves that flared out at her elbow, it was held against her slim body with a black sash at it ended a few inches about her knees, she wore black tights inside that ended just slightly below where her yukata shirt ended accompanied by long black socks that covered above her knee she wore her headband loosely around her neck. Behind her, with his arms snaked around the woman's waist was a young man with spiky blonde hair, it's color was even brighter than Naruto's however the hairstyle and blue eyes looked so similar to Naruto's. The man looked rather beautiful himself, with his headband tied across his forehead he wore what looked similar to the dark haired man, a jounin vest and dark blue turtle neck long sleeved shirt that hide his neck.

Over at the other side was a very happy looking couple, the man was bent over with his lover snaking her arms over his neck and joint at his chest as she latched herself onto his back. She looked like she was laughing and enjoying herself, the woman had faded pink hair which was held up in a messy bun with strands falling out and the ends that are held up sticking in every direction behind her by a needle and her konoha headband tied at the crown of her head like how Sakura wears her. Her forehead was covered by a side sweep of bangs, partially covering a little of her right eye as the longer strands of hair at the side framed her child like face, her eyes were a glowing shade of green as they were squinted in her smile. Only her top could be seen in the picture, she was wearing a high collared, long sleeved crimson coat with a mesh shirt on the inside and tank top on the inner layer, showing off a good amount of cleavage. The male had messy, almost reddish brown hair. strands messily falling over his forehead and brushing the top of his dark green eyes, he had rather long sideburns that framed his face, his hair ended short and spiked out at the end, covering half of his neck. He looked rather embarrassed in that situation as a tint of red painted over his features. He was wearing a long sleeved light brown jacket that's buttoned right below his chest , the sleeve was so long it covered off his hands that was holding on to the woman's hands that were jointed at his chest. inside he wore a mesh shirt like the woman and black sash belt around his waist hanging loosely above his hip, below is an apron-like end like the outfit Sakura was given when she was accepted into Konoha. He wore what seemed like black sweat pants with his kunai holster tied around his left thigh.

Sakura scanned the picture once more, she saw the symbol of the Uchiwa fan on the sleeve of the black haired woman and her lover. 'That means... those must be Sasuke's parents...!' Sakura's eyes averted to the couple next to them, 'Who are they...?'. The last couple was the one that intimidated her, for some reasons she felt like she'd seen them before, in fact she felt like she knew all of them, so why can't she seem to remember seeing any of them.

Then it hit her, 'That woman's hair needle...!' she reached into her pouch which she carries with her everywhere and pulled out her precious possession, the only thing she has left of her mother, it was made out of the same material used to make a kunai, at the end of it was a small outline of a cherry blossom. She compared it to the one the woman wore in the picture 'There's no doubt about it... this is the exact same hair needle' another thing she noticed about the couple was that the man's holster was opened, with the handle of the kunai peeking out and she could see a red thread tied on to it. Sakura covered her mouth as the tears began to overwhelm her. 'My parents...!'

She had no idea why she was crying, but felt like someone had turn the tap and left it on. Now that she was sure her parents were from konoha there has to be some part of history that said something about her parents. And the history section of the konoha library has all the answers. Without a second thought Sakura stood and with a single brush she wiped away any traces of her crying and ran out of the chamber, taking the picture with her.

Before leaving the house she left Sasuke a note telling him that she had gone out to check on something in and that she'll be back soon. She dashed straight to the library not even bothering to use the streets instead she just took the route on the rooftops.

When she reached the library she wasted no time in greeting the librarian like she usually does. The elderly lady didn't even notice that someone had come through the door. Sakura stumbled to the History part of the library, she looked at the massive amount of shelves that this section had. _It would be quicker if I ask Tsunade-sama in person, she would know something. _Sakura shook those thoughts away._ She hid the fact that there was information on my parents in Konoha from me... she must be trying to hide something from me. _Though it hurt Sakura to think like that but she can't afford to trust anyone now, she has to find this out on her own. This meant that she couldn't trust what her previous mentor told her, about her parents being noble Iwagakure shinobi and that she was found by him. She couldn't trust anyone at the moment.

She strolled through the section calmly, her emerald eyes scanning each book as she passes them. There was nothing that said about the history of previous shinobis, only the history of Konoha's previous leaders which she had already read about. Then it hit her, she remembered Sasuke mentioned that his parents died in the Third Shinobi World War when he was 6 but she never read anything about a Haruno participating in the war, she was confident that either her mother or father would be mentioned if they did participate, maybe a Jounin commander or anything.

So that means they must've died before the war. Sakura thought hard, _what other events happened before the world war. _

The Kyuubi's Attack on Konoha.

Sakura instantly scanned the shelves for anything that would tell her about the attacks on the Kyuubi. She found a few books written by the shinobi who fought to defend the village at that time. Sakura's palms felt sweaty, what if her parents were like what she pictured them to be. What if they're so insignificant that they weren't even mentioned. Sakura gasped, what if that's the reason why no one told her about her parents.

But that can't be true, Orochimaru knew about them as well as the Tsuchikage. Maybe it wasn't time for her to find out...

Worries filled Sakura with no end. She stayed in that same stop, at war with herself for half an hour before deciding she wants to know, it was her parents after all. She deserved to know. Sakura flipped through the first page of the book and began to read.

_Clang. Ting. Ting. Shuuuk. _

The sounds of a thousand birds chirping flipped the forest. "You're too hasty, Sasuke. Your movements will become predictable" said Itachi, he caught his brother by the wrist after managing to dodge his chidori by a centimeter, he spun Sasuke around with his Chidori still activated, careful not to let it touch him then threw him off, Sasuke's chidori crashed through a tree, completely severing the tree from its trunk. Sasuke turned around just in time to counter his brother's raid of kunais and shuriken.

Itachi smirked. _He's gotten better, he doesn't choose to dodge my attacks but now chooses to counter them, but you're still naive. Sasuke. _ Sasuke had no trouble countering each and everyone one of the kunais and shuriken till he smelled. _Gunpowder._

Alerted, Sasuke. Jumped out of range and the bomb went off, taking out yet another part of the forest. Sasuke skidded to a stop and faced his brother, after a second of forming the seals, he released the attack immediately "Katon, Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Technique, Phoenix Flower Technique)" small fireballs were sent at Itachi, his brother wasted no time to pull out a counter attack. He reached into his pouch and sent over ten shurikens at Sasuke, half a second later he blew out a fire attack "Katon, Housenka Tsumabeni (Fire technique, Phoenix Flower Shuriken)" The flames wrapped itself around the shuriken Itachi just threw, powering the attack up.

They easily snuffed out Sasuke's Housenka and headed straight for him. Without losing his composure he grabbed hold of his kusanagi and pulled it out, slashing horizontally as he did his blade lit up in sparks and drawing a crescent line in front of him "Chidori Senbon" he said as he activated his Sharingan, making the senbons aim nicely at the shurikens as it took a few senbons to completely snuff them out.

Next he aimed for Itachi, but he wasn't there. Sasuke immediately looked up and countered an incoming slash from Itachi's tanto(short sword). The brothers fought with their blades till Sasuke sent Itachi's flying with a hard blow to the right. Itachi jumped back, forming seals "Katon, Karyuu Endan (Fire technique, Fire Dragon Blast)" Sasuke formed the same seals and spurred fire from his mouth, the two dragons head straight for each other.

The dragons bashed their foreheads against the other, pushing as the flames kept coming. The collision caused hot air to blow from every direction. The people on the streets at the village could feel the hot air wrapping their bodies.

The middle aged aunties passed each other, shaking their heads and chuckling "Those Uchiha brothers are going all out again" the other lady laugh "Boy will be boys"

What previously was a training spar became a battle of fire techniques. Sasuke and Itachi threw out all the fire techniques they knew but no matter how many times their attacks collided they were always even. Sasuke form only one seal this time. Itachi's eyes widened 'He's going to use that already...?'

In a sudden, Sasuke's body was covered in violent flames they began to grow and grow "Katon! Goryuka no Jutsu! (Fire Technique, Great Dragon Fire Technique)" The flames gathered in a spiral around in and suddenly a dragon of flames shot up, letting out a piercing roar at its awakening. The dragon was humongous, it soared into the sky came down, ready engulf Itachi and reduce him to nothing but ashes.

The dragon slammed down on Itachi, scorching the very ground itself. Sasuke activated his sharingan and his eyes widened, his brother was still there, just standing there. Sasuke deactivated his jutsu and stood at guard as he waited for the smoke to clear. He could feel his brother's footsteps from beneath him. How did he survive that massive attack...?

"Well done, Sasuke. Your fire techniques have already surpassed mine" said Itachi. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his brother. A technique he had never seen before. "Enton, Kokuen on Tate (Blaze Technique, Shield of Black Flames)" Sasuke looked again and realized his brother's eyes were different "Mangekyo Sharingan...!" he gasped. _That means that's a shield made out of Amaterasu's flames._

Sasuke scowled at his brother. "Don't look at me like that, Sasuke. If I hadn't done this you would've had a pile of ashes for a brother" said Itachi. Sasuke rolled his eyes "A pile of ashes would've been nice" said Sasuke. The thunder began to roar and Sasuke could feel something cold drip on his head, he looked up and the thunder clouds began to flicked with lightning. "Seems like all that hot air has accumulated thunder clouds" said Itachi, looking up. His mangekyo deactivated "How's that technique you're working on, Sasuke" asked Itachi.

Sasuke walked over to retrieve his kusanagi, that was stabbed into the ground courtesy of Itachi for kicking it off his hand when they fought kunai versus katana. "I'm working on" was all Sasuke said. Itachi smirked, knowing Sasuke he doesn't report any of his self training progresses instead he shows it on the field. The thunder rumbled once more then a snap and a roar. The rain poured down on the brothers mercilessly.

Kakashi was watching over Naruto's training, Naruto was in the midst of infusing wind element chakra into his rasengan when suddenly the sky poured down on him, drenching him as Kakashi tried to keep himself dry by standing on a branch where the leaves shield him from the rain. "Geez there wasn't even a warning for this" complained Naruto. "Shall we end training early today, Naruto?" Kakashi called out from the tree. "No, it's fine. It's just a little rain" said Naruto with a smug look on his face. Kakashi sighed, this meant that he had to stay too.

Sasuke on the other hand was already headed home, the sun was going to set soon. Training went by faster than he thought. On the way home he wondered what was for dinner tonight. He glanced back, Itachi was still there. This meant that he didn't have any meetings or missions to attend to like he usually does after training. Sasuke kept telling himself that this meant he had to share Sakura with his brother and that irritated him, but deep down he was really happy that his brother was coming home tonight.

However when the Uchiha siblings reached home, Sasuke was disappointed to find a note addressed to him on the dining table from Sakura.

_I'm going to the library for a bit. _

_I might decide to stay over so don't worry. _

_If I don't come back by dinner means I'm at the library._

_Don't come look for me. _

Sasuke only wasted a few seconds reading the note, his heart immediately fell. He crunched up the paper to relieve his frustration of the lack of Sakura's presence and threw the note in the bin. "Sakura's not coming back tonight again eh?" said Itachi. Sasuke didn't answer so he took it as a yes. Itachi smirked at his brother's childish antics. _He's still a child after all._

Sasuke knew Sakura wouldn't be happy with him training in the rain and not coming home and taking a warm shower immediately so instead of plopping down on the bed like he really wanted, he decided to listen to his Sakura conscious and take a shower. Though he's still annoyed that Sakura isn't going to come back tonight.

She even told him not to go look for her.

The more Sasuke thought about it the more annoyed he gets, if it weren't for the shower he'd be throwing a tantrum right now. After the shower Sasuke dried his hair with a towel and proceeded to slack on the bed, wishing that morning would come faster where he would see Sakura preparing breakfast downstairs. He decided that he was just going to sleep till Sakura comes back for it was the best way to pass time.

But what Sasuke didn't know was that Sakura was currently wandering the streets of konoha, she was soaked to the bone, her eyes were weary and her hand gripped on to a book she borrowed from the library, in fact she didn't even officially borrow the book. She was just shock at the contents she forgot to let go of the book when she exited.

The words from the diary kept flashing in her mind. Words of her parents, and how they perished at the hands of the Kyuubi.

_Haruno Tsubaki was the commanding officer of my squadron with her husband, Tsuchiura Kouhei as second in command. The attack of the Kyuubi came out of nowhere, all chuunins and jounins were called to the front lines and the rest of the village are evacuated to the safe house. The sun was gone and evening fell, even though it felt like night because of the heavy amount of rainfall we've been receiving recently. She told us that we shouldn't be scared of the battlefield and that looking out for one another on the field is nothing to be ashamed of. I remembered her words loud and clear that day. "Shinobi aren't tools, they're humans as well. So whatever decision you make out there today, I will take full responsibility for it. So live! and return to your loved ones. You are my squadron, do me proud" her orders were absolute and everyone was determined to follow her even if it costs their life. _

_However the situation at the frontlines were worst than we thought. The Kyuubi was only a 20 kilometers away from the village it was closing the gap fast. We met with the squadron led by Uchiha Fugaku, the face of the commander was grave and as he shook his head and said 'It already wiped out half our battalion, Minato is currently looking for the one responsible for releasing the Kyuubi" he said. "We'll have to stall it till then, it's far too close to the village" I heard vice captain Kouhei say. "Men! Change of plans! You will scout around and search for survivors! Bring the wounded back to the village! Aburame Shingo, you are to lead the scouting, and no one is to approach the Kyuubi. Understood?" Tsubaki-taichou told us. "Yes ma'am" _

_I jumped off just as everyone else did, looking for survivors. I searched and searched but everybody I came across, had already stopped breathing and before I knew it, I had wandered closer to the kyuubi than I wanted to be. Seeing the beast up close was even more terrifying, the sheer force of its destructive chakra made you tremble by just being close to it. _

_Then I caught sight of Tsubaki-taichou, she was standing at the foot of the Kyuubi. She formed some seals but it was cut off when the kyuubi took a swing at her with its arm. I decided to inch a little closer to the battle, stupid as it was but I couldn't help it. _

_I watched as she formed more seals before slamming her palm into the ground "Doton! Tsuchi no Kei! (Earth Technique, Earth's Imprisonment!)" Green chakra lit her body and all of the sudden, a large wall shot from the ground like a huge wave, it reached over the Kyuubi and began rounding it. The beast didn't struggle to escape, it's tails lashed around violently, taking off pieces of earth wall that was coming down on it. _

_That wasn't enough to destroy the jutsu and soon enough it completely crushed the kyuubi down, pinning it to the ground. "Kouhei !" she turned and yelled for her husband. Haruno Kouhei was restraining the Kyuubi's tails. He was well known for his speed and strength but this was just ridiculous, the man was holding down all 9 of the kyuubi's tail using chrakra strings. "Mikoto! Fugaku! Break the genjutsu now!" Tsubaki-taichou shouted. _

_I watched as two shinobi dashed straight to the kyuubi's head, a woman and a man. It hit me in the face when I saw the emblem on their sleeve. not to mention that their sharingan, when used together is the most deadly when you're caught. They rushed to the kyuubi's head, staring into its huge eye, it's pupils were diluted and veins were forming around the eye. _

_I figured the beast was probably under a genjutsu and the Uchiha couple were going counter it with the use of their sharingan. The beast struggled at first, but the team held with ground. Till the dark haired woman yelled "It's done!" and looked over at Tsubaki-taichou. And with that one mistake where everyone let up. They were blasted apart and the kyuubi was no longer bounded. The force of the explosion knocked me out and that was what I remembered of the war, I woke up a week later having been told that I had to go through an intense surgery because I was hit with a small part of the Kyuubi's chakra and it started to manifest and they only way to save my life was to clean out my whole chakra system. After I was released from the hospital, I was told my by friends that the Hokage and his wife along with Tsubaki-taichou and Kouhei-senpai were killed in action. I visited their grave, their tombs were placed next to each other, I truly cried for them. _

Sakura stumbled a little, earning her looks from the civilians but she didn't react to them. She swayed a little but continued walking. She didn't have the guts to go back home and face Sasuke right now and explain to him why was she soaking wet. She found herself unconsciously walking to the village cemetery, the far rows of tombs covered the whole field. For some reasons Sakura knew exactly where to go and before she knew it she was standing still in front of their tomb. They were buried together and for that, Sakura was grateful to Konoha.

She collapsed on her knees in front of the tombstone then reached out with her trembling fingers to touch them as she read their names "Haruno Tsubaki. Here lies a true Konoha shinobi that defended the village against the Kyuubi" "Tsuchiura Kouhei . Here lies a brave Konoha shinobi who fought to protect."

"So it's true... Mama... Papa..." Sakura sobbed as she held the tombstone and dropped her head, the rain dripping down from her body with her tears falling just as heavily. Sakura felt a her body throb and her muscles going limp. _'What's happening...?' _

_What a soft bed..._

Sakura breathed evenly on the bed, covered by the thick blanket. Her eyes fluttered open, that's strange. Usually there would be a very annoying ray of light that always shone on her face. There was a very faint smell of sake and ink. Her eyes opened, she knew this smell. Sakura looked up at the ceiling, already figured out where she was. "Oh, you're awake. Sakura"

Sakura sat up, "I'm sorry for the intrusion, Tsunade-sama" said Sakura, smiling meekly. Tsunade was dressed in her usual outfit with a bottle of sake in one hand as she leaned at the side of the doorway. Sakura looked out the window and realized it was still raining. As if she read her mind, Tsunade said "It rained overnight it's already morning"

Back at the Uchiha Manor.

Sasuke has just woken up, he went downstairs to get some juice when he heard the loudest knocking ever. "OI, SASUKE-KUN I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE. LET ME IN, I'M SOAKING WET!" he heard the very loud voice of Ino. He narrowed his eyes and brought the juice carton with him as he walked to the door. He opened it and gave her an annoyed look "What is it, Ino" he said, one hand holding the door and the other holding the carton. "Wow, Sasuke-kun. You look good even with bed hair" said Ino. Sasuke raised his eyebrows, Ino shook her head "Aren't you going to invite me in? If you haven't notice, I'm a girl. And I'm standing in the rain" she said, even though she wasn't exactly in the rain as she was standing under the roof space in front of the door.

"Tch" Sasuke just stepped aside and let Ino in. She left her umbrella outside and step in. "Why are you here, Ino" said Sasuke, walking over to the kitchen with Ino following her. Sasuke drank the juice straight from carton. "Sasuke, you know Sakura doesn't like you drinking from the carton" came a new voice. Sasuke ignored it and placed the carton on the table and continued rummaging through the fridge. Ino looked over her shoulder to see probably the handsomest man she's ever seen, a faint taint of pink brushed her face. "Oh hello, You must be one of Sasuke's friends. I'm sorry my brother's such a troublesome brat" said Itachi, his tone was calm and polite. "A-Ahaha! It's fine!" said Ino.

Sasuke twitched "Hurry up and leave for your mission already" scowled Sasuke, draping his arm on the fridge door and glaring at his brother. "Will you not allow your dear brother to eat his breakfast?" teased Itachi. Sasuke rolled his eyes and shut the fridge, having found nothing he wanted to eat he decided to just stick with the juice.

Itachi walked over to the pantry and grabbed the loaf of sliced bread and put a slice into the toaster. Ino watched Itachi move through the kitchen graceful, not a single move out of place. "Well then, I hope we meet again, Yamanaka-san" said Itachi, smiling then began walking out the kitchen. He took a bite of the toast along the way then ruffled Sasuke's hair along the way "See ya later, foolish little brother" he said with a mouth full of toast. Sasuke scowled "Don't come back, you jerk"

They heard the door close and Ino had finally stopped ogling Itachi. "Gosh, I envy Sakura..." Ino sighed dreamily. "You still haven't told me why you're here" said Sasuke, looking at her. Ino was snapped back on track. She hammered her palm "Oh right. I wanted to ask where is Sakura" said Ino, on the edge of her seat. "She said she was going to the library yesterday" Sasuke answered in a monotone.

"I already checked that place. She wasn't there" said Ino. Sasuke's brows furrowed "What do you mean she's not there" he said, his tone was serious now. "I was hoping you can tell me that" said Ino. Sasuke began to panic, what if she got captured or was threatened to leave the village, _again_. Sasuke's thought were running wild about the possibilities that could've happened to Sakura. "I'm going to go look for her" he said, getting up from his chair and walking upstairs. Ino realized that's the most active she'd seen him whole morning. And all she had to do was mention Sakura, Ino smirked "That boy's hopelessly in love" she muttered to herself and showed herself the exit, setting out to go look for Sakura again.

Sasuke got dressed like lightning, not even wasting a second and didn't even bother to use the door and just jumped out the window and into the heavy rain.

...

Tsunade handed Sakura the mug of warm milk. "Here"

"Oh, thank you" said Sakura, her voice was hoarse as she took it between her hands and savored the warmness before taking a sip. "Tsunade-sama" Sakura began. Her mentor look over at her student, she had a troubled expression. The blonde woman pulled a chair from her desk and placed it next to her bed. "D-Did..." her voice trailed off "Did you know my parents, and what happened to them?" Sakura managed to get out.

Tsunade settled down on the chair. "So you did find out..." she said, putting the half empty sake bottle away. "Why didn't you tell me? That my parents were Konoha Shinobi?" Sakura asked. If she hadn't use that tone of voice Tsunade would say that she felt betrayed. "It wasn't time for you to know" said Tsunade. "I see..." Sakura didn't push it any further, guessing that her parents were behind this and they much have their reasons. "I did know your parents" Tsunade said, Sakura looked at her with hopeful eyes "Your mother was still pregnant with you when I left the village" said Tsunade, she smirked "From the first time I saw you, I knew you were Tsubaki's kid. You look just like your mother" said Tsunade. Sakura smiled, that was the first time anyone said that to her.

"I never thought that they would die in combat, she was one of the Academy's brightest graduates. Of course the top being Namikaze Minato, the fourth Hokage. Then before I knew it, they were already jounin." said Tsunade. When Sakura heard Tsunade laugh lightly and then pick up her bottle of sake, she hoped that her mentor wouldn't stop here. She wanted to hear more, more about her parents. "Sasuke's mother, Uchiha Mikoto was one of her best friends." said Tsunade. Sakura's eyes widened. Her mother knew Sasuke's mother?

She opened her mouth to say something but Tsunade cut her off.

"Don't rush it, Sakura. You'll find out in due time" she said. _That's what everyone's been telling me, there has to be some secret hidden in her body. _ "Duty calls, you rest well now. Sakura" said Tsunade, waving her student off as she exited the door. Sakura looked down and realized that she wasn't in her shinobi outfit and currently fitted into one of Tsunade's robes.

Sakura didn't move, just kept looking down. Then she took hold of the robe's chest area and pulled it out front as fast as it could go. "It's huge"

For once she didn't want to listen to her mentor, she didn't want to stay put. Curiosity is eating her from the inside and there was nothing she could do about it. She hopped out of bed and changed into her own clothes that had already dried overnight and immediately left only get herself soaked, ruining the overnight's work. Sakura avoided her mentor who was currently walking over to the Hokage tower with an umbrella.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama" she muttered before jumping off.

Sakura had meant to go back home before Sasuke starts to worry but as she passes the cemetery, she couldn't help it after knowing that her parents were buried here. She decided to pay her parents a proper visit since all she did yesterday was cry and faint at their grave. She sucked up her chest and clutched her father's red thread kunai that was now chipped and blunting. The handle tearing and there were very obvious scratches on the antique.

She found herself shying away when she stood one tombstone away from her parent's grave. _What if I'm not what they wanted me to be? What if they don't recognize me? _Sakura swallowed and took it step by step till she stood directly in front of the tomb. She knelt down "Okaa-sama... Otou-sama..." she greeted them. "I'm your daughter, Sakura. It's been awhile, I'm not sure if you recognize me. But I've received what you left behind for me" Sakura reached into her pouch and pulled out her hair needle. She set the kunai and the hair needle down in front of their tombstone. "I hope you don't mind if I hold on to them till I become a shinobi worthy enough to carry them" she said, her eyes were dazzling and her lips were curved in a smile.

Sakura found herself trembling again "E-Eh?" she felt up her face as she looked down. "I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I told myself I wasn't going to cry. It's just that..." Sakura sniffed and wiped her eyes, trying to stop the tears "I miss you guys... " she let it out in a sob.

It took Sakura awhile before she managed to pull herself together, she tried to laugh it off. "You know, I was taken in by Iwagakure. They trained me to be a shinobi, even though it was painful without you guys, but I'm grateful to them because I might not be living here right now if they didn't. I made lots of great friends here, everyone here is so warm. Especially my teammate, Uzumaki Naruto and oh! Okaa-san, I forgot to tell you, I made friends with Mikoto-san's son, Sasuke. I heard she was one of your best friends. Isn't this odd? I was taken by another village and I still manage to come back here and meet your best friend's son" Sakura laughed lightly. "This must be fate, right?" Sakura smiled "I'd like to hear the story of how you two met someday" Sakura put on a grin and sighed.

"I have so much more to tell you, but I have to go. Sasuke might start to worry" Sakura tried to hold back a smile 'I guess they don't have to know the fact that I'm dating Sasuke, yet' Sakura scooped the hair needle and kunai up. "Oh and one more thing. Thank you." said Sakura, smiling down at them. Before she felt the ground tremor.

Everyone in the village stood at alert. Sakura's eyes widened. _How could she not have sensed that massive chakra_. She looked over at the village and dashed for it, something was coming. Sakura's eyes narrowed as she ran as fast as she could for the village she needed to get to the village to warn them about what's coming.

Sakura didn't pay any attention to her surroundings, not to the coldness of the rain, or the chattering of the civilians, or the chakra of anything other than the massive approaching chakra. Till it hit her in the face. As she was about to pass a alley, another boy decide that he would go through from there.

"Sasuke!" "Sakura!"

They crashed into each other, ending their 50mph sprint. They rolled and tumbled before landing sorely on each other. "Geez, you greet me in the strangest ways" groaned Sasuke, wincing and rubbing his head. "S-Sasuke... You're heavy..." came a choked voice from beneath him. Sasuke opened his eyes and pushed himself up. "Sorry" He got off. Sakura let out a breath when she sat up only to have her shoulders gripped by Sasuke "Where have you been! You said you were going to the library and Ino said you weren't there this morning"

Sakura noticed that Sasuke's hand were trembling even though his expression was angered his eyes showed fear. Sakura smiled at him and slipped her hands around him and pressed herself against him, holding him tightly "I'm okay, Sasuke. Sorry for making you worry" she whispered. Sasuke rested his forehead on her shoulder, he sighed. She was so troublesome, yet he couldn't do anything about it. Sakura smiled.

Sakura's body throbbed, this time she could feel the massive chakra better than ever. This was no time to be hugging her boyfriend, the village was in trouble. She tried to pull away but she had the feeling Sasuke wanted to stay like this a little longer. "Sasuke did you feel that tremor earlier?" said Sakura.

"Yeah... something's going to happen again, isn't it" said Sasuke in a tired voice. "We'll pull through, we always do" smiled Sakura. Sasuke smirked under her hold, reluctant to let go. He gave her a little squeeze before letting her go. They stood up and ran for the village gate, they noticed that a large number of shinobi had already gathered, all surrounded around the fifth hokage. As expected from the hokage, she picked up the signs of danger and immediately gathered all the available chunin and jounin. However the gathered team only had 2 jounin while the rest are chunin.

The team lacked members of the Konoha 12 and their jounin teachers. However Kakashi was included in the team which gave a boost of reassurance to the team, the other was the tokubetsu-jounin being Inuzuka Tsume and her partner, Kuromaru.

They had already formed a team? Sakura and Sasuke found it weird that they weren't summoned, maybe it was cause there were running everywhere. They skidded to a stop in front the squadron, earning everyone's attention. "Tsunade-sama! There's a massive chakra heading towards the village, it'll be here in less than 10 minutes" Sakura reported immediately. Tsunade looked at her with a stern look, as if she didn't want them there. She just nodded and with a "Good job, Sakura. Go back and get some rest" and with that she turned her attention back to giving out orders to the squadron.

Sakura looked at loss for words, her mentor never brushed her off like this in this kind of situation before, so she decided to be patient and wait. Surely the blonde hokage would have something in mind for them. Judging by the gathered manpower, the village is currently in one of those states where they're lacking of available shinobi and they need all the help they can get.

Sakura glanced over at Kakashi, hoping he would speak up for them. But he didn't even return her gaze. Sasuke noticed the worried look on his pink-haired teammate's, his hands clenched themselves. Something was definitely up. After Tsunade sent everyone off, Sasuke confronted her "Fifth, what is the meaning of this? Why aren't weren't we included in the offense squadron" snapped Sasuke in an almost rude tone. Tsunade turned away from them "Genin are not necessary for this mission" said Tsunade. Never has she taken their rank into account when sending them off to a mission. They were probably the only genin team in history to have taken on an S-ranking mission without a jounin leading and come back alive.

They were more than capable for a mission like this. "This doesn't make sense! We need to get out there, the village needs all the help it can get" Sasuke argued. "You will not question the decision made by your superior, I will not change my decision. Squadron 7 will remain in the village and that's final" said Tsunade, as she was about to walk off.

They heard a familiar voice call out to them "Sasuke! Sakura-chan! Did you guys feel like earthquake just now? I was eating at Ichiraku then suddenly the ground trembled and I spilled my soup!" He shouted his complains to them as he descended from the building and landing swiftly on the ground and running up to them only to feel the tense atmosphere.

"What's happening?" he said, oblivious to the fact that a battle was going on. "The village is in trouble, Naruto." said Sakura, softly. "And the Fifth won't let us leave the village to help stop the invasion" Sasuke added. Tsunade stayed silent, her expression has been hidden from them. "W-What do you mean...? If there's an incoming invasion then we need to get out there and stop them! W-Why?" Naruto nearly shouted. "Just go back, you three. If you leave the village I'll personally have an ANBU squadron sent for your assassination " she said in a grave tone before walking off.

Naruto wanted to lunge himself at her, to yell at her. Sasuke was furious, was she mocking them? Sure they might be genin but their skills were well above. How could she not see that? The boys were about to go after Tsunade once before they felt a tug that stopped them. Sakura held their arms. "I...I'm sure Tsunade-sama has her reasons for this" she said softly. The two boys were too engulfed in anger that they had forgotten to think about Sakura's feelings. Tsunade was her mentor and for her to put her own student off for an important mission would feel like she doesn't trust her apprentice. Making Sakura feel like she had failed her.

"Let's have faith in Kakashi-sensei and the rest" she forced herself to smile. Only then did the two boys give up on chasing Tsunade.

Meanwhile, the offense team had already clashed with the beast. It was moving a lot faster than they expected, it was a huge fiery beast, made out of chakra flames with a wavy outline resembling a red leopard. There were all sorts of symbols on its body. Kakashi's eyes widened "That's...!-" He was cut off when he heard a cry from one of the chunin ninjas. His eye immediately darted to the chunin that had attacked first, his arm was completely scorched, Kakashi scowled and dove down to grab him before the beast's hand came down.

"Keep your distance! Bare handed Taijutsu isn't going to work on it!" Kakashi shouted. Everyone immediately jumped back, landing on nearby trees that weren't destroyed by the beast. The beast let out a roar that shook the ground.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were sitting on the roof of the tallest building in Konoha, besides the Hokage tower. Sakura sitting at the edge as Sasuke and Naruto stood behind her. As they stared at half the beast's body showing on top of the tree as it thrashed around and crushing the forest in its way.

Sakura prayed that they would be successful in stopping the beast. Naruto and Sasuke hated to admit it. They couldn't do anything unless the offense squadron fails and that's not going to be good. Sakura could feel the battle, every jutsu they used, every chakra that was going out. It frustrated her that she couldn't do anything but she had to hide it away, for the sake of Naruto and Sasuke.

"Gatsuga!"

Two spinning tornadoes bashed themselves at the front paws of the beast. Knocking it off balance and landing on its chin. "Doton, Hyaku Yari (Earth Technique, A Hundred Spears) " a chunin shinobi called out, chunks of dirt rose from the ground and sharpened themselves before throwing themselves at the beast, impaling it's forehead with spears.

The beast roared in pain and got back on its feet and shaking it's head, sending the spears crumbling down back to dirt. "Raikiri!" Kakashi shot from the trees and threw himself at the beast, forcefully pushing the lashing ball of blue electricity into the beast's side. The collision made Kakashi's chakra unstable, his technique went out of control and lashed out but he kept pushing it against the beast till an explosion occurred between them, sending them flying back. The beast was sent to its side and struggled to get up where as Kakashi was saved from the ground's impact by Kuromaru.

The chunins took this chance to attack the beast, pulling out all the techniques they know on it. Nevertheless the beast seemed barely fazed by it. Kakashi stood at the tree branch, watching as his squadron gets overwhelmed with both his eyes.

"Damn, at this rate it'll reach the village in no time" Kakashi cursed under his breath. The beast's tail swung and slammed to the ground, creating a massive crack that cut through the earth, a few of the chunin were unlucky enough to have the ground beneath them split and swallow them. The beast managed to roll back on its feet despite all the shinobi holding it down. With one swipe from its claw, it caught a few chunin in its claws and blowing the rest away. It swung it's paw again, throwing the shinobi that was caught in its claws.

"Kuromaru!" Tsume called out to her companion and the black wolf-dog was at her side in an instant. They stood directly in front of the beast. Tsume got on all fours, her back legs bend like an animal ready to pounce and her clawed hands on the ground in front of her. "Junji Konbi Henge: Soutourou! (Human Beast Combination Transformation: Two-Headed Wolf)" A blast of chakra whirled around them and a blur of black and white could be seen growing bigger and bigger. "It's Inuzuka-fuku taichou!"

There was a black and white wolf beast nearly as huge as the invading beast standing before the enemy. The transformed Tsume and Kuromaru had two heads, the head on the right had a slash scar down across its eye whereas the other head had both eyes. The two beasts growled at each other, as if challenging the other to make a move. With a twitch of muscle, Tsume and Kuromaru were the first to strike, pulling a Garoga on the beast. Spinning with intense force, the beast resisted and bashed it's head against the attack, pushing it back only to great a large trench in the ground as Tsume and Kuromaru's attack insisted.

The beast had its eyes squeezed close, it's claws sinking into the ground. It's eyes shot open and it took a step forward, it's red fiery chakra beginning to spread to the spinning Garoga. With a hard push and a roar, Tsume and Kuromaru was sent tumbling back. They got back on their feet, however their legs were already wobbling, their foreheads looked scorched and their claws looked chipped and blunt.

Tsume's side of the beast body gave out, making the beast fall on one knee. "Tsume! Get a hold of yourself" Kuromaru told her and nudged her with his nose. Tsume's beastly head shook her head and got back on her feet. Their attack didn't even look like it dealt any damage, the beast was still angry. "So long as we standing here, it won't be able to take another step" Tsume said.

The beast was first to strike, it lunged itself at Tsume and Kuromaru with its front paws off the ground, Tsume and Kuromaru mimicked and they two beast scratched and clawed each other as they pushed against one another. Till the beast swung it's paw and dug it's claws in Tsume's side. Causing her to let out a snarl. Kuromaru could feel his partner's pain and attempted to take on more of the burden. "Tsume! Kuromaru! Get out of there!" Kakashi called from the tree top.

With a poof, they returned to their normal forms with Tsume's hand over Kuromaru as he carries her off from the battle area. Kakashi widened his eyes and his Sharingan's tomoe spun and formed a circle of black scythes. "I'll tear it apart with my left eye's Kamui"

The space around the beast began to swirl and distort as if it was getting sucked into a hole in the dimension. The best roared and struggled, it turned mechanically to Kakashi and with one swoop of its front paw, Kakashi hadn't expected the beast to be able to move like that when it's trapped in his Kamui and had no time to dodge it.

One of its claws caught Kakashi in the chest, flesh ripping and chest flaming. Kakashi was launched backwards, breaking several trees before he came to a stop. "Copy Ninja Kakashi has been taken down!" one of the shinobis cried.

"Inuzuka Tsume is in no shape to fight either!"

...

Back in the village, Sakura gasped. Sasuke looked down at her, "What's wrong, Sakura" he asked. Sakura folded her arms around herself "No... it's nothing" she muttered. _It's best not to tell them now. _Sasuke knelt down next to her and placed a hand on her back "Are you cold?" he asked. Sakura shook her head even though that was pretty much a lie, with the rain pouring like there's no end. They were all cold, they just didn't want to admit it.

...

A part of the beasts body had been taken away by Kakashi's technique, however it recovered almost instantaneously and it's body was only made out of chakra. The beast saw no threat that held him back and prepared to charge for the village. "Hold him back! We must do everything we can to hold it back!" one of the older chunins called out. Everyone was with him, they managed to bind it's feet with wires however their efforts were made futile when the beast slammed its tail down on them and then proceeded to create a path of destruction towards the village.

Four ANBU captains stood in position outside the village, awaiting the beast's arrival.

With precise calculation, the beast passed the first two captains. One of the front two spoke into the radio "Now!"

"Ninpo, Shishi Enjin (Ninja Technique, Four Violet Positions)"

Four lines shot up and drew a violet box around the beast, successfully containing it. The beast rammed into the barrier only to find that it had been trapped. The beast spun around and tried it's luck with another one of the walls. Like a bull just aching to get out of its pen, the beast thrashed around.

The ANBU captains held their cool, but Sakura could feel their chakra waning with everywhere blow the beast delivered on the barrier.

The beast roared and bashed it's head against the wall that's closes to the village. The flares of the chakra growing.

_Shattered. _

The highest level of the Ninpo Kekkai. Had been shattered, the ANBU captains were taken by surprise. As they were about to counter the beast with another technique, it was too late. It had already broken through the village wall and is now standing before the Konoha population.

"The village is under attack!"

"Evacuate the civillians!"

The beast took out one of the watch towers with a swipe then his eyes was set on a running mother and child.

Silently they moved through the panicking crowds, the villagers remained oblivious to their presence.

Just as the beast was about to go after the mother and child, there was a sound of a thousand chirping birds. A dark figure launched himself from the rooftops and right at the beast's head. Another figure shot from the streets, a bright swirling ball in his hand. And in a second the mother and child were no longer there.

"Chidori!" "Rasengan!"

Sasuke slammed his hand of electric onto the beast's head and Naruto jabbed his rasengan into the beast's chest. "Chidori Eiso (Chidori Spear)" a spark of electricity channeled down Sasuke's arm, multiple spiked emerged from the beast's head, one of it nearly got Naruto in the head if the blonde hadn't tilted his head to the side.

The beast was launched back through the village wall.

Sakura guided the mother and child to the evacuating crowd before joining her teammates. Even the ANBU could hardly believe it, a whole squadron of chunin and two jounins couldn't even hold the beast back. Yet two genin just sent it flying like it was some kind of doll.

"Oi! Sasuke teme! Were you trying to kill me!" Naruto shouted at the raven haired who just gave him a lazy glance and raised his eyebrows "So what if I were?" he said in a cocky tone.

A vein popped on Naruto's head "You picking a fight, you bastard!" shouted Naruto, holding a fist out. Sakura sighed, she leaves them for a minute and they're already fighting. She leaped in between them, catching their attention. "It's coming back" she said quickly. Her teammates got their head back in the fight. The beast got up and shook it's head and snarled at them.

"Careful not to make bare physical contact with it, it's chakra will burn you even with the slightest touch" said Sakura, already sensing the chakra type. Sakura was well accustomed with the dangerous chakra type as she had used it on herself to free herself from chains.

"Naruto, you aim for the head. I'll go after it's legs. Sakura, you go under and strike when I knock it out of balance" said Sasuke. "Right"

Naruto and Sasuke crossed paths to get to their appointed attack points. Sakura and Sasuke waited for Naruto to get the beast's attention. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called out and next to him appeared another Naruto. He reached out his hand and his cloned spun the chakra, forming an extra huge Rasengan. He charged at the beast with the clone, both of them supporting the Rasengan "Odama Rasengan!"

Right before the beast took Naruto's attack head on, Sasuke and Sakura took their position. Sasuke lined his sharingan controlled wire with chakra and wrapped two of them around the front legs of the beast as he stood in between.

Naruto's attack managed to make the beast bend it's legs a little. Sasuke tugged two of the wires together and the beast lost its footing, about to come down like a building as Sakura stood below it, her fist practically glowing with chakra. She pulled on her glove and she waited for the beast's body to come down on her so she can send it back up.

But something had caught Sakura's sight right before she could deliver the blow. Her eyes widened and her chakra dimmed. The beast came down.

**Next Chapter**

"There was a child in that beast!"

"It just keeps regenerating from every attack we throw at it!"

"Naruto, Sasuke. Lend me a hand"

"But he's going to be alright, right?"

"You're going to be okay, don't give up"

* * *

**I hope this clears up any confusion, hehe. Review if you can, if you can't its alright :D **


	11. Beast Child and an Emergency Rescue

**GUYS IMPORTANT! GO BACK TO THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER! I UPLOADED THE CHAPTER IN THE WRONG ORDER AND I JUST FOUND OUT, THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!**

**Dedication: Alice Darcia.**

**Thanks for reading! I'm honoured to be one of your favourite authors!**

* * *

**Beast Child and an Emergency Rescue**

Just before she was crushed beneath the beast, Sakura felt herself jerking to the side and then her body weight disappearing. Sasuke skid to a stop and got on one knee to lower Sakura down. "What happened back there, Sakura" he demanded from her. The image of what she had seen flashed through her mind. A mere child no older than 10, _inside _the beast. Sakura snapped back to reality when she felt Sasuke shaking her "Oi! Sakura!" he called out to her, concern showing in his eyes. Sakura reached out and grabbed hold of Sasuke's jacket.

"Th-There was..." her voice trailed off. "There was a child in that thing!" she shouted at her. Sasuke's eyes widened "How can that be...?" doubting Sakura, she saw it in a moment of adrenaline after all but her green eyes told him otherwise. "She was in the beast's chest, we have to save her!" her eyes pleading. Sasuke sighed, this is how he always end up taking Sakura's side.

"Alright, what do you propose we do. The idiot won't be able to hold for long." said Sasuke.

Meanwhile...

Naruto cursed his teammates to their grave. _Where the fuck are those two? _ He managed to dodge a bone crushing smack down by the beast. He flung a kunai at its paw only to have it get absorbed and then melted. Naruto gulped, it would be messy if he was caught in that chakra. He flipped on his hands and landed on his feet, skidding a few meters back.

He caught sight of his teammates, he felt relief but at the same time he wanted to yell at them till they were deaf for ditching him like that.

He reunited with his teammates "Geez, can't you two find a better time to make out? When there's not a gigantic beast threatening the destruction of the village?"

Sasuke was about to throw a counter insult at Naruto but Sakura cut him off "Naruto, there is a child in the beast's chest, we have to be careful about where we attack it." she told him. "C-Child? But that chakra melts anything that comes in contact with it" said Naruto. Their attention was directed away when the beast slammed it's hand down on them. "Kaiho"

It met with a familiar green chakra than sent its paw back to him, snarling as if in pain. "What do you plan to do, Sakura-chan?" asked Naruto. "We have to think of a way to get her out, for now just be careful about your choice of attacks" said Sakura, her eyes blazing. Naruto and Sasuke nodded, Sakura dispelled the barrier and they jumped off, determined to find the beast's weak spot.

Sasuke activated his sharingan and began scanning the creature as he dodged it's attacks, careful not to get himself caught because that might be the last mistake he makes. After looking through the beast, he couldn't find a place where the chakra flow was weaker. He gave a frustrated "Tch" before flipping backwards to avoid a ground shaking hand slam.

He decided to attack and see if it works. "Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu" he shouted, shooting a humongous fireball at the beast, making it turn away and snarl at the scorching heat. Eyes locating the source, it struck. Sasuke cut his technique short to dodge, he launched himself into the air. However the beast was smart this time, immediately after it missed. It raised the other paw and decided to squish Sasuke like a bug.

Sasuke didn't flinch, but before he could draw his Kusanagi a voice called from the sidelines.

"Doton, Hachi Doryu Josho (Earth Technique, Eight Rising Earth Dragons)"

Sasuke turned his head to look at the ground, he watched at eight dragons molded from the wet ground shot up from the ground and whooshed carefully past him before piercing themselves in the beast's hand. He watched as Sakura's chakra was clearly evident in the technique, but instead of having the chakra completely dissolved by the beast, Sakura' green chakra fought back and destroyed the beast's paw.

Sasuke landed on his feet and watched as the beast took a step back and chakra began to flare as it repaired itself.

Naruto flung himself (literally) at the beast with another rasengan in hand. He slammed hard onto the beast's head, his attack never got through, the beast just absorbed his rasengan. It lifted its head and sent Naruto off balance, landing sloppily on his feet before dodging a swing from the beast.

"It just keeps regenerating from every attack we throw at it!" said Naruto, he grabbed his kunai. Then he paused and an idea hit him, he pumped his newly attained wind affinity into the blade and flung it with all his might into the beast, it entered through the chest and Sakura let out a small gasp when it just barely missed the child. She heard the beast roar in pain and as the kunai slowly melted away. Naruto let out a loud "Yes! It worked!"

Sakura formed the right seals and clawed her hands in front of her "San Inshi Ookami (Three Element Wolf)" she forced a large amount of chakra into her arm, Wind, Fire and Lightning chakra molded into a shape of a wolf. Sakura doubled the chakra and the wolf doubled in size.

The wolf ran at the beast, it's tail still connected to Sakura as she controlled it's movements. The wolf caught the attention of the beast before it sank it's teeth into the beast's neck. Naruto and Sasuke watched as the familiar wolf stole the attention of their prey.

The beast fought back and swung a hand at the wolf, but Sakura's attack didn't give in. Upon touching the white wolf, the beast lost its arm. Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widened. Sasuke finally understood, Sakura's pure chakra could counter the beast's destructive chakra. The beast seemed to have snapped. It pulled away from Sakura's technique, but to no avail. Sakura pulled her chakra back, she attempted to pull the beast towards her.

Well she got one part right, the beast turned to look at her mechanically. Sakura's eyes widened as she felt the thick pressurized chakra charge at the beast's mouth. She didn't have time to move, a beam of red shot at her, cutting from the ground all the way up.

Sakura found herself being crushed by something heavy on the ground. She groaned and opened her eyes only to find none other than Uchiha Sasuke laying on her, he had his arms wrapped tightly around her and one of his hand behind her head to soften her landing.

Sakura felt his grip on her loosen when she twitched. "Geez, you many times do you have to scare me before you're satisfied. " he said. Sakura blushed, she was always getting saved by Sasuke.

"I-I'm sorry" she mumbled, her eyes trailed and she spotted a scorch wound at Sasuke's side, showing his bare skin in the rain. "Sasuke..!" she breathed sharply. Sasuke followed her eyes and looked at his own wound, he tried to touch it but Sakura slapped his hand away. "Don't touch it, you'll infect it" she bit her lip as she lit her hand with her green chakra and gave it a quick heal, at least to replace the burned layer of skin with a new one to prevent an infections, she'll heal the nerves and tissues later, the beast wasn't patient.

Sasuke decided it's best to tell Sakura now that she was probably the only one that can stop the beast, but he had a feeling she'd already realized "Sakura, your chakra-" he cut himself short."Yeah... So you've noticed too" she said. Her eyes widened when the thunder roared all of the sudden. That book...

_'It was just like any ordinary book. With the author of the book in the first page, as usual Sakura dismissed that page and moved on the contents but when she flipped a page-'_

She finally remembered the author's name, how could she not have seen this earlier. That weird sensation when she made contact with the book, the familiar warm feeling. On the front page -

_**The Haruno Clan**_

_By Haruno Tsubaki_

That book was written by her mother. And that strange sensation, she remembered when she felt it. The first time she spoke to her mother during the sand's invasion on Konoha, she never saw what she looked like but she could heard her voice and see her shadow. When she explained about her Chakra Kaiho to her, she felt like a tight bandage around her had been loosened. When she touched that book, she felt the same sensation.

Sakura felt a rush of realization before she stared down at her own hands, she felt... So different yet nothing seemed to have changed. The beast charged up for another beam, this one looked huger than the previous one. Sakura could feel Sasuke tensed to dodge till she grabbed her hand, Sasuke looked down at her, surprised. She didn't say anything, just kept on staring at her other hand.

Sasuke decided to trust her.

The beast fired, this time aimed properly at Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura's head shot up, eyes glowing as the beam was about to hit, only to stop when it made contact with Sakura's barrier. Her barrier looked different, something about it made it seem. Stronger.

Sasuke could feel Sakura's small hand tighter around his wrist, he wriggled out and wrapped his fingers around hers. He could feel Sakura's body throb with chakra, green sparks cackled from the barrier and made its way towards the beast through its own attack and electrocuting it's head. The beast immediately cut off its attack and snarled in pain, a spark of electricity ran through it before it died down.

Sakura finally understood the concept of her kekkei genkai, a human weapon was the perfect way to describe it.

_Not only are they able to master all 5 basic affinities, but their chakra has the power to suppress ones chakra, whether it be man or beast. They make the ultimate Bijuu tamers. However in price of this gift, the members of the Haruno clan were cursed with ridiculously weak bodies that wouldn't be able to withstand the bijuu's sealing. _

Sasuke smirked, if they don't keep up with their training, Sakura was going to surpass them.

"That was totally awesome, Sakura-chan!" shouted Naruto. Sakura dropped the barrier as Naruto came running. His eyes trailed to their attached hands, he made a face and waggled his eyebrows. "I see what you did there, Sasuke" he said. Only then did they realize that they were still holding on to each other's hands. They instantly let go, a tint of red brushing their cheeks.

Sakura smiled "Naruto, Sasuke. Lend me a hand"

...

_'Deal as much damage as you can, huh' _

The two boys smirked, that's their specialty. They got into position, Naruto standing a fair distance behind Sasuke who was looking up at the clouds, the lightning flashed an thunder cackled, he smirked, _perfect._

Naruto formed a seal "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" but instead of summon one clone to start his rasengan like he usually does, he summoned two. _'Sakura-chan wants a devastating attack, and that's exactly what I'm going to give her _'

The two clones picked at the chakra around his hand, this time it didn't look like a rasengan, it was white and the chakra around it was more pressurized as it spun faster and faster, Sasuke waited for Naruto's start. The beast was charging another beam for its next attack, directed at them.

Sasuke narrowed his sharingan eyes. Behind, he could feel the sheer intensity of Naruto's incoming attack just before the blonde ran past him. His sharingan could see the huge amount of chakra stored within that spinning white ball

"Fuuton! Rasenshuriken!"

Sakura's stomach lurched at the force of the attack Naruto held like some kind of play ball. She knew that if someone was hit with that attack, it's unlike they'll be able to wake.

Naruto ran under the beast and landed a sharp upwards hit against the beast's chin, the beast resisted and pushed it's chin down, attempting to aim and destroy anything in the village. Naruto pushed on, the white ball spinning even faster. The beast couldn't stand it, and the beam was launched up at the sky instead of the village. "Sasuke!" Naruto shouted as he was coming down from his jump.

"I'm working on it" the raven head grumbled, he wasn't about to be outdone by his blonde teammate. His eyes closed as he formed a seal.

The lightning seemed to be flashing more violent, the thunder sounded and Sakura could see it, the immense amount of lightning chakra Sasuke was emitting was drawing in the lightning in forming a large thundercloud above the beast.

The stirring of the clouds were violent, even just by looking at it she could feel terror.

"Kirin..!" Sasuke said loudly.

A bright flash of lightning and before the beast knew it, a dragon had came down on it. This was no ordinary dragon, the dragon was made of blue lightning as it bit down on the beast, completely severing and destroying its hind legs.

Sakura knew that was her turn, she shot forward, coating herself with green chakra and, like a bullet she threw herself into the beast, pushing herself as far in a possible as she grabbed hold of the child. She held her tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. Sasuke and Naruto's chakra were already exhausted, however they stared into the beast and watched as Sakura attempted to suppress it's chakra.

It was extremely dangerous to just be throwing yourself into a man scorching beast, but they were left with no choice and Sakura was definitely going to complain that they didn't have enough faith in her if they didn't let her go.

But knowing that girl, the guys knew they had nothing to fear of. Sakura's chakra began to spread like a virus in the beast, it had already stopped regenerating, all Sakura had to do now was suppress the remaining about of the beast that Naruto and Sasuke left for her.

Amidst the pain, Sakura heard a soft voice, 'Who're you?' Sakura heard her said in her head, so she answered 'I am a Konoha Shinobi. I'm here to help'

'You should run, I am a monster'

'I won't leave you'

'You're just wasting your time, lady'

'Then let me do as I please'

Sakura's chakra exploded, blowing Sasuke and Naruto off. When they turned back, Sakura was sitting on her legs, with a child in her arms. The child had black hair that ended messily at her chest, she was wearing a short skirt kimono that children always wear to festivals. Her fingers were caked with dirt and her feet were grubby, her face looked rather rounded but there wasn't a speck of dirt on her face.

Sakura looked down at the unconscious child then smiled. She was absolutely exhausted to the extent that she didn't even want to move. She looked up at her teammates who soon collapsed, sitting on either side of her as well. She let out a chuckle. They did it.

Tsunade and the rest of the village soon gathered around them. The hokage was given an opening that led her to the panting trio. Sakura looked up and smiled at her "As you wished, we didn't leave the village" she said. Naruto gave a huge grin and even Sasuke couldn't contain a small grin as he closed his eyes.

Tsunade crossed her arms and smirked 'These three just keep coming back and kicking the society's judgment in the ass' she thought then turned around to see the two village elders, holding umbrellas under the rain. She gave them a smug look in which they responded by turning and walking away. Guess this means she won the gamble, and in less than a month. She had clearly underestimated them.

Next day...

Sakura handed the little girl over to let the hospital take care of her and the council to place judgment on her, Sakura just hoped that they wouldn't do anything harsh to a child. The rosette had gotten up earlier than the sun and was already up at her desk, scribbling notes as she flipped through the pages of her mother's book. She picked up the test tube that sat the last from her rack, pulled the cock and consumed its contents. It was a concoction made out of herbal extracts that helps keep her heart pumping, it works better than coffee.

She paused when she felt a certain someone's chakra sparking, she smiled and pulled the hair needle from her hair and letting the locks fall around her. She stood up and excitedly exited her room only to knock on Sasuke's door. "You awake? Sasuke?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer. She leaned her head in to hear a soft "Yeah" from behind the door before she entered.

Sasuke was in a pair of sweat pants and loose fitting singlet as he held his wardrobe door, probably about to get changed. "Time to change your bandages" Sakura said and motioned him to take off his top. "Didn't you just change them yesterday?" he sighed. "You can never be too cautious, now are you going to take it off of am I going to have to do it for you" Sakura smiled at him.

He smirked "That's not a bad idea, Doctor" he mocked. He flinched, about to dodge Sakura but the next thing he knew she had tackled him onto the bed, sitting on top of him. Legs folded on either side of his waist. "Geez woman, it was a joke" he said. Sakura giggled, she leaned down and placed her hand on the bed above his shoulders. Sasuke smirked and raised a brow "Are you attacking me, Sakura?" he snaked his hands up legs and rested them on her waist. "What do you think?"

Sakura's green eyes gleamed right before she leaned over and pressed her lips against the Uchiha's. His heart was going out of control, but he refused to show it. Since when was Sakura so well taught in these things. Unless this was part of her training with Tsunade.

When she pulled from the kiss, Sasuke found himself wanting more. She looked down at him, her face turning red "Are you ready to take your top off now?" she asked. Sasuke turned away "I don't feel like it" he joked. Sakura made him look at her, placing her forehead on top of his "I'll stop if you don't listen to your doctor"

Sasuke felt himself flinch, she knew exactly how to control him. The worst part is, he was completely powerless against her. He pushed himself to sit up and reluctantly slid out of his singlet, Sakura's hand immediately went for the bandages but Sasuke grabbed her wrist before she managed to touch it. "You're not touching that bandage until I get what I was promised" he smirked and pulled her hands so that they stood on either side of him and her body, arched down and her knees on either side of his legs.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, then obliged. Sasuke moved his hands up her back to slip his fingers in her hair, deepening the kiss. Sakura etched closer to him, placing her hands on his bare chest now. She now sat herself down at his lap as she pushed him against the headboard and wall and she leaned in.

She slid her hands down from his chest and ran her fingertips around his abs. "Done" Sakura said all of the sudden. Sasuke looked down to see that Sakura had somehow changed his bandage without him knowing. She held a smug look on her face as she got off his bed and trotted over to the door "Be downstairs for breakfast" she told him before exiting and closing the door.

Sasuke was still wondering where on earth did Sakura learn to rouse people like that, his eyes narrowed. Was she using this on her other patients as well?

Sakura stood outside Sasuke's room, body leaned back against his door and fist at her chest. 'It's still racing...' her face was completely red and her hands were trembling as she clutched Sasuke's old bandages. She pushed herself off his door and walked down the hallway and headed for the kitchen 'Strange... Ino-chan never mentioned anything about feeling like this. Maybe I'm sick'

Sasuke came down in time to see Sakura place an omelet on a plate. He went over and took his usual seat with Sakura across him, she walked over to the dining table with two plates in her hands as she set one down in front of Sasuke and the other in front of her seat. She left and came back with the cutlery.

And of course after their meal, as Sakura and Sasuke were washing the dishes. Someone had to come and destroy the perfectly peaceful morning. But a perfectly peaceful morning would be rather boring. Naruto didn't bother using the front door, instead he came around the house and barged in through the paper slide doors which eventually led to the kitchen and dining room, which Sasuke and Sakura always forget to close.

"AH! YOU GUYS ALREADY HAD BREAKFAST!" Naruto shouted louder than necessary, Sasuke flung a plate at him, in hopes that would hit him in the face and shut him up before he made any more noise. Naruto caught the plate expertly "Nice try, teme" he said and brought it back to Sasuke who snorted as he reluctantly took the plate from Naruto, debating whether to smash his head with it. "Naruto, want some breakfast?" Sakura offered. "It's alright, I already ate with Hinata" he said. Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other with Sakura grinning excitedly at him as he just smirked back.

"Oh? So you're making a move on Hinata-chan now?" said Sakura. Naruto blushed immediately after his teammate said that, he covered the lower part of his face with the back of his hand. "She just came back from her mission so I treated her to breakfast, that's all!" he defended himself.

Sakura was well aware of the huge crush Hinata had on Naruto, they were going to make such a great couple. Sakura couldn't help but smile. Naruto dropped his hand "We have a mission" he said, this time he was being serious.

Instead of assembling at the hokage's office like they usually do for an important mission, they found themselves waiting outside their sensei's operation room.

"Didn't they say Kakashi-sensei's injury was just a flesh wound?" said Naruto.

"Seems like he's been in there for the whole night" said Sasuke.

Sakura's brows furrowed, indeed Kakashi's wound looks like a simple flesh wound that needed to be patched up when they brought him back. However her chakra was too exhausted to assist the operation so she was sent back. She didn't expect it to take this long. She looked over to see the expressions of her teammates and noticed that they had the same expression as her. They waited anxiously for someone to come out.

Tsunade came out, pulling a heath mask from her face. "How is he, Tsunade baa-chan" said Naruto, stepping forward. "His wound is infected to a serious extent. He's going to need more time before he can return to the field" said Tsunade. "But he's going to be alright, right?" Sakura said, she sounded desperate, and anxious. Tsunade didn't say anything, Sakura's heart fell. "I can't say for sure now..." the hokage muttered.

"Which is why, as his students you have to take the responsibility of your teacher. Before the village was attacked, I received an urgent Intel from Niju Shotai. It seems like they have spotted a pair of akatsuki members. I don't know if they'll be enough to finish the job so I was about to send Kakashi as back up. But seeing as he is now, I doubt he'll be going for any missions for awhile." said Tsunade.

Sakura's heart sped up as the words 'Akatsuki' remembering what happened the last time they encountered them.

"Squadron 7, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your mission is to go to Kusagakure and assist in the capture of two akatsuki members. I'm appointing Sasuke as this mission's captain" said Tsunade. "Right" all three answered and once before they disappeared.

They ran a quick trip back home to gather their things, the trip to the grass village would take about a day or so. They could make it in half a day if they don't take stops. They packed their things and met at the village gate. It seemed like Naruto was first to reach.

They nodded at each other before running down the path.

After a while of running straight they turned towards the north and took the shortcut by cutting through the forest. So far no one seemed like they needed a break. Sasuke was leading, followed by Sakura then Naruto. Sasuke wanted them in this formation in case of an attack. If it's a head on attack then Sasuke would be able to take notice of it first. If they decided to sneak up on them, Naruto would know. They had to keep Sakura away from danger, the medic of the team was always the most important.

However Sakura had to admit, Sasuke was fast. She was beginning to have trouble catching up to him after three hours had passed.

Meanwhile...

"Asuma, now!" Shikamaru cried. His teacher, took one swing of his arm with his hand clutched his chakra blades, he decapitated one of the akatsuki members, making his hitai-ate that was formally around his neck, drop to the ground.

Asuma let out a breath as he watched his opponent's head roll, literally. He lowered his weapon and turned his head, this battle was done.

"Oi, Kakuzu! Look what he did! This is all your fault for not coming to help me"

Everyone froze. "No way...!"

"Is he really, immortal...?"

"It's your own fault for letting your guard down" Kakuzu replied his partner from afar. "Quit ya bitching and come reattach my head!" Hidan snapped. Kakuzu jumped in, dodging the attacks Kotetsu and Izumo threw at him and picked up Hidan's head. Asuma took his stance, but Kakuzu didn't even spare him a glance as he reattached his partner's head with threads.

"Much better" sighed Hidan. His skin turned back and he had a skull on his face and weird white markings all over his body licked his lips then looked at Asuma, who scowled at him. Weapons raised.

Kakuzu was attacked by Kotetsu and Izumo. He merely dodged their attacks and didn't seem interested to do anything else. "Hidan, try not to mess him body up too bad, I need him identifiable so that I can collect his thirty-five million ryo bounty." said Kakuzu.

Izumo and Kotetsu came from both sides of Kakuzu, but the latter didn't move. Instead threads slid from him sleeves and binded them before their attacks could reach.

Shikamaru tried once again to bind Hidan, but it was no use. His chakra was too exhausted to go any further. "Heh, running low on fuel eh?" said Hidan. Asuma gritted his teeth, he couldn't do anything when Hidan was in that circle. Hidan looked at Asuma thoughtfully. "Hmm... How should I kill you" he said.

He placed his blade against his neck, drawing blood. Asume could feel blood trickling down his neck as well. "Stop it!" Shikamaru shouted, but stumbled. From behind him he could hear Kotetsu and Izumo being slammed to the ground, he looked back with a gasp. "Or should I pierce your heart" Hidan chuckled sinisterly as he pressed a blade against his chest.

Hidan pushed the blade in front of him. Shikamaru's eyes widened, he was really going to do it. If he doesn't think of something soon, Asuma was going to die. He wracked his brains for a battle plan, but felt utterly hopeless when he couldn't think of anything that could save them in this situation.

Before he knew it, Hidan had pierced his own heart.

"Asuma!"

He fell. Asuma's blades slipped away as his body landed with a hard thump. Shikamaru struggled to move, being too exhausted he still tried. His hands clenched and shaking as Hidan let out a roar of laughter. "Mortals are so fragile" he laughed.

Hidan turned towards Shikamaru who was glaring darkly at him. He grinned back manically and pulled the sharp metal out of his body. Then turned his body to face Shikamaru, "Don't worry, you'll be joining him soon" he said, gripping his scythe.

Kotetsu and Izumo laid unconscious on the ground, all beaten up and covered in dirt. Kakuzu's threads riled up together and formed two sharp spears positioned right above them.

Hidan threw his scythe at Shikamaru, the boy winced and turned away. Expecting the blood to splatter soon.

The immortal akatsuki's eyes widened, something fast. He almost couldn't see it.

_Clang._

His spear dropped to the floor, limp.

Kakuzu looked up to see what had stopped Hidan's scythe. Only to have an attack slammed into his chest "Rasengan!"

He was flung backwards and away from Kotetsu and Izumo.

Hidan twitched, before him stood a raven haired boy in a white jacket, holding his katana that had just knocked his scythe away from his prey, eyes darkened and glaring. From the moment he laid eyes on Uchiha Sasuke, he knew he'd already hated him. "Hey buddy, Looks like you want to die too" he glared at Sasuke. Shikamaru looked back to see Kotetsu and Izumo no longer in danger as Naruto stood where Kakuzu formally stood with the latter far away from them, then he looked up at his savior "Sasuke! Naruto! What are you guys doing here" said Shikamaru. "Orders of Tsunade on behalf of Kakashi" said Sasuke.

"What happened to Kakashi?" said Shikamaru. Before Sasuke could answer his question, she heard his female teammate's voice. "Shikamaru!" she called after him and landed swiftly next to him. "A-Asuma-sensei" he heard Chouji stammer at the sight of their fallen teacher.

Shikamaru immediately felt his heart being crushed all over again, how was he going to explain this to Chouji and Ino? Ino wasn't going to take it well, he couldn't stand the sight of her crying. "Hou... more brats have arrived" said Hidan. "Keh, too bad they aren't worth shit. Just kill them all, I don't care how you do it" said Kakuzu. "Ino, where's Sakura" Sasuke asked, his eyes still fixated on Hidan. "S-She told us to go first" said Ino. Sasuke scowled, Sakura must've felt Asuma's fading chakra.

Hidan smirked and pulled back his scythe. "Get Asuma out of here and have him treated, Naruto and I will take care of things from here" said Sasuke. "Sasuke you can't kill him, he's immortal. Don't let him cut you or you'll get caught in his technique" said Shikamaru.

Sasuke turned his head just slightly "Thanks for the tip" then he turned back to face Hidan "Now go! Asuma's chakra is fading fast" he said. Chouji quickly landed next to his teacher and picked him up gently as Ino helped Shikamaru stand. Hidan threw his spear once more at Shikamaru's side, It merely took Sasuke a swing of his kusanagi to knock it off again.

Hidan pulled back his spear "Feelin' cocky, are we" he said, challenging to Sasuke. This was going to be his fourth time coming face to face with an Akatsuki member. Since he had no idea how to fight this guy, he decided to take Shikamaru's advice. _Don't let him cut you. _Hidan lunged at the Uchiha, Sasuke noticed that as soon as he stepped out of the circle, his odd appearance disappeared and he had human skin.

Sasuke jumped back as he countered Hidan's spear, slamming down on him. His kusanagi slipping between the blades and having the blades stop in front of his face at a dangerously close distance. Sasuke pushed him off then swung at him sideway, Hidan repelled it. Sasuke kept striking him as his sharingan looked for an opening. "Hou... an Uchiha. You don't see many of that around anymore" laughed Hidan. Sasuke scowled and ignored him.

Behind him he could hear that Naruto has already began fighting his enemy.

"Now's not the time to be worrying about your bratty friends!" laughed Hidan as he lunged at Sasuke. But in an instant, the Uchiha was no longer there. The bingo book were right about Hidan being the slowest of the Akatsuki. Compared to Sasuke's speed, Hidan moves in slow motion.

Sasuke stood good distance from Hidan. Hidan hid his shock, he turned around slowly with his maniac grin "What's wrong, Uchiha. Afraid to come closer?" he said. "No, I just don't want to dirty myself with your filthy blood" Sasuke smirked and held out his hand "Chidori Eiso"

Too quick, all Hidan had to do was blink and he found himself impaled by a long blade of light. Hidan looked down mechanically at the wound in his heart. Sasuke closed his fingers and multiple spikes impaled Hidan from the outside.

Hidan laughed, Sasuke scowled. Shikamaru wasn't kidding when he said the bastard couldn't die. He pulled back his technique and pulled his kusanagi to the side. "Chidori Senbon" Hidan lifted his scythe to block a few of him only to find Sasuke rushing him with the senbons he just shot, he landed a hard kicked at Hidan's chest, sending him flying far away.

Hidan let out another laugh, this man was seriously getting on his nerves. "Those moves... that face" Hidan trailed off as he got up, slowly. "Those eyes" Hidan's eyes held a psychotic look "There's no doubt about it. You must be the brother of Uchiha Itachi" Hidan grinned, eyes widened and completely crazy. "This makes it a lot easier to kill you, that bastard is going to pay for our last fight-" there was a pause in his voice.

After a moment of silence Hidan started talking to himself "Ahh, I know I know. This won't take long"

Sasuke's brow furrowed, he must be having a telepathic conversation. But with who?

"Sasuke!" He heard Sakura's voice called out to him, he felt her land next to him. The rest of Niju Shotai arrived. Outnumbering Hidan and Kakuzu. The sky rumbled and Sakura looked up, the sky was gray. She had a bad feeling.

"Hidan! Leave them!" Kakuzu yelled at his partner. Hidan made a "Tch" sound with his tongue. "Watch your back, Uchiha" he told Sasuke before leaping off in great distance. Aoba and the other were about make chase when Sasuke raised a hand. "Leave them, there's no point in making chase now" said Sasuke, he sheathed his kusanagi "That bastard! How dare he run from a fight!" Naruto cursed.

"Get them first aid" said Sasuke, nodding his head over at the unconscious Kotetsu and Izumo.

They moved the wounded up to the rooftop where Asuma was in his last moments. By the time they reached the rooftop, Asuma had a cigarette in his mouth. Looking peaceful as Ino still tries to heal him, refusing to give up on him. "Sensei! Asuma-sensei!" she called out to him as she felt his heart beat fade. Sakura rushed to his side, sitting on the opposite side of Ino. "You're going to be okay, don't give up" Sakura told him quickly. She was not about to let a patient die in front of her.

_Not when he was about to become a father. _

Team Asuma knew that their sensei was beyond their abilities. With his last breath "It's alright... Sakura. Let me go" his voice was hoarse and soft, just like a person who was about to pass. Sakura's hands glowed bright as she built chakra beneath them then she injected it all at once in his heart. It sparked his life but it wasn't enough.

Sakura released her kaiho without even realizing. Her immense chakra whipped up the wind around them her hair whipped around wildly. She pumped again, Asuma's body jerked. Ino watched as her best friend kept going. She felt ashamed that she had given up on someone so dear to her. But her heart sank, as a medic nin she knew the damage done on Asuma's body was beyond medical repair unless they could perform an immediately heart transplant.

"S-Sakura! That's enough..!" said Shikamaru. Another voice cut in "Give it up, you can't stop the girl when she's that determined" said Sasuke as he walked up to them with Naruto trailing behind him. He gave them a grin "Asuma oji-san is going to be fine"

_Why... _

_Why do they give up such a spark of hope even though it's hopeless. _

Sakura scowled, this wasn't working. She's left to resort to one last technique, it was risky as she didn't know how she first did it but they couldn't be picky right now. She breathed out and her body lit up with chakra and the wind picked up, creating a whirlwind of green chakra around them. Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru watched as the whirlwind shot up all the way to the sky.

"O-Oi, she's going to hurt herself if she stresses her chakra to this extent" said Chouji. Sasuke smirked "Shut up and watch"

Sakura had a brief idea on how to cast the jutsu from her mother's book. But it was said that none of the new Haruno clan could perform it as the seal was still too strong, some even died trying. But she survived it once, she can do it again. Sakura's eyes glowed and all her green chakra seemed to have gather in her hand. "Kurenai-sensei's waiting for you to come back, you can't give up now" Sakura told him. Asuma's body lit up in green chakra and something bright exploded. Everyone turned their heads away from the blinding light.

The light faded and they turned back. Sakura's shoulder heaving and her hands limp on either side of her. Ino moved a hand over to check Asuma's pulse, afraid of the result. Her heart skipped a beat when she could feel Asuma's pulse beating strong.

"H-He's alive" said Ino, looking up as Sakura. She gave her a tired grin "Yeah..." she breathed then looked down at Asuma, "H-How...?" said Ino. Sakura gave her a sheepish smile "He's going to be a father after all"

Team Asuma's eyes widened "How did you know that" said Shikamaru, did Asuma tell her before hand? Because as far as he knows, Asuma had just informed him on his unborn child in Kurenai. Even Ino and Chouji has yet to know. Sakura smiled at him "Don't underestimate the intuition of a medic" said Sakura, fell back. Sasuke held the kunoichi. "S-Sakura...!" said Ino, worried about her best friend. "She's fine, just overly exhausted" said Sasuke as he laid her down.

"Shikamaru! What's was that about Asuma-sensei being a father?" Ino demanded. Shikamaru had his lazy look on again "Troublesome, I just found out a few moments ago" he said then winced and held his side. Ino's demanding face was immediately replaced with concern for her teammate. "Let me see" she stood up and trotted over next to him. Shikamaru felt uncomfortable when she lifted his shirt to see a huge bruise growing.

She placed her glowing hand on the injury, soothing the pain. "Ah, I'll heal you later. Chouji" said Ino. "Oh it's fine. Take your time" the big guy flashed Shikamaru a cheeky look before the Nara sighed. "What are you sighing about now, Shikamaru" said Ino in a suspicious tone. "Nothing" Shikamaru answered. Ino decided to let it slide.

After they tended to the wounded, they headed for home with newly gathered information about Hidan and his partner. Sasuke carried Sakura on his back where as Chouji carried Asuma. Kotetsu and Izumo were carried by Raido and Aoba.

When they got back to the village it was already close to midnight, They dropped Asumo, Kotetsu and Izumo over at the hospital as Shikamaru and Raido had to report to the Hokage, much to Shikamaru's dismay. Sasuke brought a very tired Sakura home and used his foot to push over her door. He set her down on the bed and tucked her in before exiting, however curiosity got the best of him as he walked over to her desk and took a peek at what Sakura was researching about.

His face cringed after the first few words and decided that it was too complicated and let Sakura deal with it. As he turned, his kusanagi knocked over her rack of test tubes. His reflexes were instant, as he was managed to catch all of the tubes before they managed to fall and break. He sighed in relief and placed them back before walking out of Sakura's room and closing the door behind him.

**Next Chapter**

"Sasuke... D-Did you rearrange the test tubes on my rack?"

"S-Sakura...?"

"You be good girl now, or I might do something to you"

"Where's Sakura!"

"You fucking perverts... Don't speak of indecent things in front of Sakura so casually!"

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**Once again, I'm so sorry for my mistake. No wonder you guys didn't understand what was going on. Haha, don't leave me! **


	12. Life

**Hi there again, I'm back with another chapter~ Before you throw anything at me for updating so slow. Enjoy the chapter!**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto**

**Dedication : Zombie Dude - Firstly because I love the way your reviews are so helpful and encouraging to me, it makes me feel reeeeally guilty for not being able to bring out another chapter that quickly. Secondly, you flatter me. Hahahaha. I'm such a sucker for flattery. **

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**Life**

Sasuke awoke and glanced up at his wall clock to find that it was broken. He kept forgetting to get it's batteries replaced, he gave an annoyed "Tch" before he tugged at his drawer and pulled out an old alarm clock which he doesn't use anymore because he preferred Sakura coming into his room and waking him up. If he was lucky he could get a morning kiss out of her.

The clock showed 10:30. Usually Sakura comes wake him up all 9, 10 the latest if he didn't wake up by then. Then he'd just remembered the mission they had come back from must've tired her out, after all she had brought back yet another konoha shinobi on the verge of death and Sasuke was there to witness it. The last time she used that technique cost her a week in the hospital. He wouldn't be surprised if the kunoichi slept through the day. Sasuke ruffled his hair and decided to wash up, he wasn't getting breakfast today so he might as well go do some training on his own.

Sasuke was half right, Sakura didn't wake till late noon. The rosette sat up and tried to move her limbs. They felt like jelly, she glanced at her clocked only to realize that she had slept through most of the day, in a few hours the sky would be dark again.

She stumbled out of bed and somehow made it to the bathroom to wash up. She splashed the cold water in her face and felt her body rejuvenate as she pushed a toothbrush into her mouth.

Minutes later Sakura came out of the toilet with a towel in her face. She hung it on the back of her chair and grabbed the last test tube on her rack and pulled the cork before consuming its contents. She sighed as her heart beats grew, her body seemed to have gained more energy. Strange, it didn't normally feel like this. Her body throbbed and she dropped the test tube. It landed with a loud crash.

This did not go unnoticed to the meditating Uchiha. His eyes shot open and he got on his feet. He looked over at her window, his eyes narrowed as he activated his sharingan and found his teammate's chakra stirring wildly as she stumbled backwards.

He didn't waste another second, he leaped through her window in a split second. "Sakura...!" he called out to her. Sakura was clutching herself, and for some reasons her face was turning redder. "Sakura what's wrong" asked Sasuke, careful not to step on the broken pieces of the test tube. Sakura took a step back when he reached out, severely injuring his feelings. "Now's not the time, Sasuke. I-" she cut herself off and looked up.

"Sasuke... D-Did you rearrange the test tubes on my rack?" said Sakura, they eyes met for a brief moment before she violently turned her head away from him. Sasuke paused and looked over at the rack of test tubes with different colour liquid in them and he remembered the incident yesterday when his kusanagi knocked them over. "Well yeah, I accidentally knocked it over." said Sasuke "But I didn't break anything" he added.

"L-Listen, S-Sasuke... C-C-Could you go out for a little w-walk for about an hour?" Sakura asked all of the sudden. She was beginning to scare Sasuke, sure he knocked over her test tubes but that was no reason to kick him out of the house for an hour. "If it's for knocking over your test tubes then I'm sorry" he said, walking up to Sakura. But when she moved back again, he was really getting frustrated.

He took her by the shoulders "Sakura?" he shook her lightly. But when Sakura squirmed and let out an unintentional groan in a rather erotic manner, Sasuke turned red. Sakura covered her mouth and gave Sasuke a horrified look. "Sakura, what was in that test tube you drank from?" Sasuke asked, though he already had a vague idea what was in it.

Sakura took him by the front of his jacket and pushed him against the door, forcefully pushing her lips against his, amidst the kiss Sakura had even attempted to slip her tongue inside his mouth. It freaked him out to the extent he rolled out from Sakura's hold, covering his lips "S-Sakura...?!" not that he had any complaints but this wasn't normal for Sakura.

She had him cornered. Her face was red and she had a rather lustful look in her eyes. Sasuke had nowhere to go, never in the Uchiha's life had he been so afraid of a woman. The rosette couldn't seem to control herself, and Sasuke himself was already having problems with _his_ self-control. So if both of them were to lose it, Sasuke was afraid he might end up doing something he'll regret.

"Forgive me" Sakura whispered before she pressed her lips back on Sasuke's. Her hands had somehow found their way to his belt without him realizing. He didn't do anything as he allowed her to unbuckle but as soon as she did, she tried to remove his pants. Sasuke stopped her there. His could almost feel his hormones rage in protest when he did.

If he was going to help calm the sexually excited Sakura, he was going to have to take charge. Sakura found herself being shoved onto the bed with Sasuke lingering above her, he trailed kisses down her exposed neck as he unzipped her shirt even further. Sakura bit down on her lip as she tangled her fingers in Sasuke's hair. She was panting heavily but he barely even touched her.

She squirmed and whined, catching Sasuke by surprised. Since when was she on top of him?

"Naive, Sasuke" she breathed into his neck. The raven-head was thankful his shirt was a turtle neck. She grabbed both his hands pinned him down, well this was an interesting turn. "This time, I want to be on top" Something dangerous twinkled in those lustful green eyes of her. She kissed him once more, she pushed her tongue in almost immediately. He fought and lost, pretty badly. Sasuke found himself rendered completely useless, Sakura had somehow removed his shirt. When he tried to retreat, he found his back pinned against the head board.

Sakura crawled after him, her fingers brushing over his manhood in which he responded by tensing up and covering his mouth to muffle a groan. Her fingers trailed over his bandage and ran her palms up his firm chest. Sakura kissed his neck, feeling the Uchiha swallow. She moved up to kiss his hard jaw line, Sasuke was breathing heavily looking rather scared as if he was going to get eaten. Which in this case, was not far off.

"Relax" she breathed him. His mind was in a mess, his hormones are raging so much it was hard to even lie still as she tampered with his nerves. Sakura captured his lips again, this time he was sure to put up more of a fight, he slipped his hands up to hold her waist.

He could feel it, Sakura's hand slipping into his pants. But he didn't move to stop her, he let his body relax as his eyes drifted close.

_No._

He broke from the kiss and stopped Sakura before she could touch his _groin. _This isn't right, he doesn't want to do it with Sakura like this. Out of lust, just cause their hormones are unstable they have to do it to suppress it. Sasuke flipped over, now he was on top of Sakura. Panting heavily and shirtless, he looked down at Sakura with wild eyes as if he had fought a monster.

Sakura stared at him, for a moment she looked like she had returned to her normal self before lust returned in her eyes again. Sasuke looked at the bed, then at the sheets.

He had just tied his girlfriend up with her own blanket. Sasuke was holding the other end of his sharingan controlled wire as the other end was wrapped around the blankets Sakura was tied in to prevent her from breaking loose. Sasuke was having an all-out war in his mind, his head buried in his hands as his elbows were propped on his knees.

_Get a grip of yourself, Sasuke. _

He sneaked a glance at Sakura. He has defenseless girl, rolled up in her own sheets and bind by his wires.

_What are you going to do now? _

Do things that'll make her moans so loud that the whole village hears what we-

Sasuke cut himself off and then mentally kicked himself. If Sakura doesn't revert back soon, he was going to go mad. He told himself not to look at her cause it only made it harder for him to restrain himself. Yeah, that'll work; he'll just sit like this till the drug's effects wore off. Why did Sakura even have that kind of drug anyway?

Was she planning to drug someone? Did she plan to use it on herself? But by the looks of her panicking when she took the drug Sasuke doubted that she had planned to do so. So why did she have it on her rack.

He heard something behind him groan and whine, it took all his willpower not to turn. If he did then he'll be drawn in by her eyes and he'll lose himself again. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "What is it? Sakura" he asked without turning around. "S-Sasuke..." Sakura breathed, the tone of her voice sent chills down his spine. "Why won't you look at me?" she asked him, her tone sounded full of hurt. Sasuke felt like was had just been impaled by a 5 inch thick pole with the worlds _guilt_ written all over it. _Sasuke you heartless bastard._

He sighed and moved his stiff body over to Sakura, he put a hand over her body and placed his face dangerously close to hers. Her eyes shimmering like that of a child's "You be a good girl now, or I and do something to you that the both of us are going to regret" he smiled painfully at her as he activated his sharingan, planning to make her fall asleep. Sakura's eyes felt heavy as she blinked slowly, but to Sasuke's surprise she suddenly shook her head. "No!" she struggled, a blast of chakra rushed through Sasuke."I don't want to go to sleep!" she struggled and her legs pushed. She managed to push herself to sit up against the head board.

Sasuke panicked for a moment, Sakura managed to break his genjutsu without actually trying. He could feel the wires being pushed, Sasuke put his hands on her shoulder "Calm down, Sakura" he told her. Sakura refused to look at him, her head whipped left and right. "No, you're going to put me to sleep. I don't want to go to sleep..." her voice trailed "I want to be with Sasuke, why won't you let me" Sasuke heard her voice squeak into small sniffles.

It was official; he was the biggest jerk in the history of jerks. He slid his hands around her and pressed his forehead against hers "I'm sorry" he muttered, Sakura looked up and met his onyx eyes. "Hmph, I don't forgive you" Sakura fumed childishly as she looked away from him. Sasuke twitched "Oh? And what does the princess propose I do?" he said, Sakura turned back "Kiss me"

"As you wish"

Gently he pressed his lips against hers, a simple kiss, Sakura was content. Till she started to squirm. "Sasuke, C-Could you loosen the wires a little?" she asked, softly. Sasuke was so focused on their kisses that he didn't realized that they wires had tightened themselves. "M-My bad"

He released the wires from Sakura's body. She let out a sigh from the freedom, she panted as her chest heaved up and down. Sakura smiled then looked over at Sasuke "I seemed to have caused you some trouble, Sasuke. I'm sorry" she said to him. Sitting up and getting up on her knees so she towered over Sasuke she cupped his cheeks and kissed his forehead softly. A small kiss like that made Sasuke's chest tighten and his stomach flutter, he smirked. This was _his_ Sakura.

Sakura glanced her bedside clock "Looks like the effects of the drug only lasted half an hour" said Sakura. Which reminded Sasuke of the question he was going to force out of Sakura "Sakura" he said, his tone was serious now "Why do you have that sort of drug on your rack?" he said. Sakura gave him a meek look as a tint of red brushed her cheeks and rubbed the back of her head "Sex Appeal Booster Pills, what I drank was the first stage of the medicine. That was supposed to be mixed with other herbs and turned into a pill. It's usually used for seduction missions" said Sakura.

Sasuke scowl deepened even further, he was never going to allow Sakura to go on that kind of mission. _never ever ever ever._

Sakura glanced at the clock once more. It was almost the end of her shift at the hospital. Tsunade was going to stomp on her. The mere thought of it had Sakura scared boneless. "Tsunade-sama is going to kill me!" she cried out as she raced into the bathroom and checked herself, noticing a very suspicious love mark at the curve of her neck. She blushed and decided to ignore it. She ran a comb through her hair but it got stuck somewhere halfway, then she pushed all her hair to the front and began combing it as she walked out the bathroom, dumping her brush on the table as she exited the room.

"I have to get to the hospital" said Sakura. Sasuke looked at the clock, she was pretty late. He shrugged and decided to walk her there. That is, if he can keep up.

Sakura moved silently through the rooftops, apparently Sasuke's way of travelling around the village has rubbed off on her. Sasuke smirked as he watched from behind, how her hair flows like a river behind her, how her eyes are always looking ahead and her steps were swift and confident. Sakura skidded to a stop in front of Konoha's General Hospital.

"T-Tsunade-sama. What are we going to do, if his wound keeps opening up like this. We'll lose him" said the nurse. Tsunade scowled, her hands hovering over the silver-haired patient. She continued to heal him as the wound just kept on infecting, the chakra in the wound was preventing the gash in the patient's body to be sealed.

"Shizune! Take over!" she yelled at her assistant "Yes ma'am"

Tsunade stormed out of the operation room, ripping her mask off. "Where is Sakura!" she demanded. She startled all the patients and nurses in the corridors but she didn't care, the blonde woman stomped her way to the administration to check if Sakura had check in today only to bump into her very late student.

"T-Tsunade-sama...!" gasped a very scared looking Sakura. She was sweating and panting as she took a step back from the blonde lady. Sasuke was trailing behind her, his hands in his pockets as he stared at the floor. All the attention of nearby women belonged to him.

Tsunade didn't let Sakura check in, instead she just grabbed her by the wrist. "You need to come with me now" said Tsunade, though she was already dragging Sakura towards the operation rooms. "Ah, I-I'll uh see you later, Sasuke" Sakura called out to him before she disappeared down the corridor. Sasuke noticed the attention he was getting and resisted squirming, as most of the nurses and doctors in the hospital were women, he'd always ended up getting heaps of unwanted attention, even though they knew he was here only for Sakura. He just walked out of the hospital and waited outside. For Sakura.

Sakura realized that her mentor's hands were covered in blood, her brows furrowed just a little. "You have an emergency patient, Sakura" Tsunade said. Sakura wondered what sort of patient would be that require her when Tsunade was present. She quickly changed into her standard operation kit and slipped her hair needle through her hair to prevent her pink locks from getting in the way of the surgery.

When Sakura stepped into the operation room her blood ran cold as she saw who was on the operation bed. "Kakashi-sensei..."

She rushed over and examined his wounds; a three claw slash covered his chest. Blood flowing fast as Shizune struggled to close the wound. Sakura's eyes immediately caught what was off, there was red chakra seeping out of the wound. "Tsunade-sama, the wound's been infected by the beast's chakra" said Sakura. "Yeah we got that much, but we can't extract the chakra from a wound that deep. He'll die in the process" said Tsunade. "So that's why you needed-" Sakura cut herself off when Tsunade nodded "You're the only one that can suppress it's chakra with your own" said Tsunade.

"Alright" Sakura positioned body her hands on the wound, she looked up and met the tired eyes of her senpai. Sakura nodded and Shizune withdrew her hand "Kaiho...!"

The doctors in the room could feel a wave of warmth brush their skins as some of Sakura's chakra leaked out when she released her seal. Her chakra glowed a unique shade of green that seemed to match the color of her eyes at the moment. Sakura took a brief glance at the heart rate monitor; her sensei's pulse was slowing down by the second.

Sakura's hands glowed even brighter as she watched the red chakra dissolve in her green chakra. Until she was sure, Sakura took on the next level. Her eyes narrowed and her green chakra overflowed, completely covering Kakashi's body. "H-Her chakra's going out of control!"

"I knew it was a bad idea to call in a novice"

Shizune silenced them with a scowled "She didn't lose control over her chakra" said Shizune. Tsunade watched her student work with a satisfied look on her face "That's a full body restoration" smirked Tsunade. "F-Full body!?"

"At such a young age...!?"

"Tsunade-sama are you sure it is safe for her to use such a high class technique?"

Tsunade smiled "She knows what she's doing" her smile grew into a proud grin "She's my student after all"

Sakura watched as the last of the claw wound closed up, leaving behind three lines of faint scars. Sakura's chakra died down "Prepare for immediate blood transfusion. Sensei's blood type is type O" Sakura ordered, the doctors immediately prepared the procedure, handing Sakura the needle. She held her teacher's arm, searching for the blood vessel. She couldn't help but notice that her sensei's hand felt awfully cold. The needle slipped in easily under his skin and the blood began to flow.

The other doctor repeated the steps with his other arm as Sakura held on to her teacher's hands. "I'm sorry I'm late, Kakashi-sensei" she whispered, rubbing her thumb across his hand. She felt her sensei squeeze her hand just slightly she let out a gasp and looked at her teacher's face. One of his eye opened and looked up weakly at his student. "What's this...? You being late is a... first for you... Sakura" he murmured between heavy breaths into the oxygen mask that's still obstructing the lower part of his face. Sakura wondered if she'll ever see his face.

Sakura looked at the monitors, his heart beats and pulse had stabilized and his wound wasn't reopening. She smiled at her teacher "Don't scare me like that, Kakashi-sensei" she sucked in her tears and clutched his hand tightly. His eyelid closed slowly and reopened, his eye gave away his fatigue as he lifted his hand up to his student's head and ruffled her hair, or at least tried to with what energy he had left.

"Hey, it's okay now... You did great" He wiped a falling tear from her eyes with his thumb and caressed one of her cheek. Sakura looked at her sensei; he had his eyes closed in a smile.

A panting doctor burst into the operation room. "We're losing her, Tsunade-sama" she panted. "Sakura" Tsunade called out to her student. Sakura nodded and held her teacher's hand one last time. "Go save another one" he chuckled lightly. Sakura nodded firmly and placed his hand down gently. Kakashi could feel his body go numb as he let the sedatives do their work.

Half an hour later...

Sakura washed her hands and sterilized them before changing out of her uniform, she sighed and sat down on the staff lounge's sofa. Inuzuka Tsume's operation was successful; she suffered a punctured right lung as well, prolonging her operation. However the chakra that infested her wound wasn't as serious as Kakashi's, still it was a close call. She saw Kiba and his sister waiting outside the operation room, seemed like Kiba had just returned from a mission and Kuromaru had informed them of their mother's injury. Sakura reassured the Inuzuka siblings of their mother's life before she walked out to meet Sasuke. Who was still stubbornly waiting for her. He always waited even when she told him not to. But Sakura didn't mind, honestly she felt rather happy about it.

The automatic doors opened, Sasuke perked up; looking to the side as he was leaning against the wall next to the hospital entrance. Sakura pulled the needle from her hair and meekly smiled at him "Did I keep you waiting long?" she asked. "Not really" he answered in a monotone. 'That's what he always says'

The sun was going to set soon; Sakura didn't have a chance to buy the groceries. I seems like they'll be eating out tonight. As they walked through the quiet streets of the village, Sakura told Sasuke about Kakashi and Tsume. Sakura could feel Sasuke's body tense up when she mentioned that Kakashi nearly died, Sakura smiled. Even though Sasuke constantly glares and tries to kill their teacher, she knew he was just as worried about him as she was- though he'd rather die than admit it.

"His condition stabilized, if he's recovering well I'm sure Tsunade-sama will let him go in a few weeks" said Sakura. Sasuke snorted "I'm sure that sorry excuse of a teacher would rather drag on his mission free vacation in the hospital than get back to work" he said. Sakura laughed lightly "That could be so"

They walked in silence for a while, the streets were pretty deserted because of the attack the civilians were pretty shaken up by that incident and didn't risk walking out at night. Sakura didn't mind, she enjoyed walking alone with Sasuke like this. Much better than jumping the rooftops to get to work.

Then they heard their third teammate's voice "Heeeey! Sasuke! Sakura-chan!"

They turned around and saw the blonde jogging over to them with Hinata following behind. "We were just looking for you guys" said Naruto, grinning at them. Sasuke narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his rival. "Is something wrong, Naruto?" asked Sakura. "Oh! Nothing's wrong, we were just going to tell you guys that Ino's gathering the Konoha 12 for dinner at the barbeque house, her treat!" said Naruto. "What great timing, we were just going to grab something to eat" said Sakura. "S-Sakura-chan, have you seen Kiba-kun? We couldn't find him" said Hinata. "Oh, he's staying by his mother's side in the hospital" said Sakura. Panic flashed briefly in Hinata's eyes "W-What happened?" asked Hinata. Sakura just remembered that Hinata came back with Kiba's team.

"She was injured during the attack last night" said Sakura. "O-Oh... Yeah, I heard about the attack. You guys are pretty amazing... t-the way you took the beast down together" said Hinata, her cheeks going red as she complimented them. As they walked towards the barbeque house, Naruto rambled on and on about how he kicked the beast's behind to next Tuesday. Sakura and Sasuke examined the two from behind, Hinata would smile, sometimes laugh as Naruto was being his usual, loud self.

"Don't you think they make a pretty nice couple, Sasuke" said Sakura, practically glowing as she mentally paired her blond teammate and the shy Hyuga heiress up. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, this was probably a girl thing. But Sasuke had to admit, the dobe seemed to have gotten over the crush he had on Sakura and moved on.

One less love rival for him.

They arrived shortly only to find that most of the Konoha 12 had been gathered, the only ones missing was Kiba and Shino. The insect controller said he didn't feel comfortable in a crowd and refused to come even though everyone tried to persuade him. Apparently Ino had invited others that weren't part of Konoha 12. "Sakura-chan~"

Sasuke winced at the voice, he knew that voice. "Takuya! Sai-kun!" gasped Sakura, even though they were her temporary teammates, they were still her teammates. Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously at Takuya, warning him. Ino waved her hands at Sakura, catching her attention "Come sit next to me, Sakura. Oh, don't worry Sasuke I saved a seat next to the seat I saved for Sakura. Just in case you want to be a little possessive" she said in a teasing tone.

Sasuke glared at Ino as she laughed. Sasuke and Sakura took their seats, Naruto was sitting next to Hinata who had Neji and Tenten on the other side of her.

To make this simple there's the seating plan.

Lee - Neji - Tenten- Hinata - Naruto - Takuya

-Table-

Chouji - Shikamaru - Ino - Sakura - Sasuke - Sai

This was the perfect time for everyone to catch up with one another, since they're all chuunin now(except for team Kakashi), they're all always off on missions and barely had time to even look at one another. Sakura always seemed fascinated with the sizzling meat whenever Ino brought her to the barbeque house. She would put her head on the table and stare as the meat sizzled and shrank only to be picked up by someone and then another piece would come in, repeating the process.

"Sakura, if you keep staring at the meat like that you won't get any" said Tenten, slipping a piece of cooked meat into her mouth. "But it's so interesting!" she squealed like a child. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, this side of Sakura seemed to be rather interesting as he took a sip out of his tea. Sakura tugged at his sleeve like a child "Hey hey, Sasuke. Watch this" she said then leveled her chopsticks and picked up a piece of meat before placing it on the grill. The meat sizzled violently and shriveled up.

Apparently small things like this amused the rosette to no end and when she's up against a 10 ton beast she barely flinches. Sasuke smirked and put his cup of tea down. "Sakura-chan, I'll let you put my meat on the grill if you feed it to me" Takuya winked at her. Sakura's face lit up "Really?"

Sasuke's face immediately darkened. "Of course" said Takuya, radiating brightly.

Sasuke pushed his plate towards Sakura. "I don't know how to cook it" Sasuke said as he leaned on his palm with a bored expression on his face. "Let me" said Sakura, sounding a little too excited for someone that's just going to put meat on the grill.

Sakura had completely forgotten about Takuya's offer, he glared at Sasuke as the Uchiha smirked victoriously at him. "Gosh, I swear. You guys are just using Sakura!" huffed Ino. Sakura found herself being hauled into Ino's chest as the blonde hugged up sympathetically "It's okay, I won't let those jerks boss you around anymore, Sakura" said Ino, shooting a glare at Sasuke and Takuya. Sakura looked utterly confused "Eh?"

"Ino's scary" said Naruto and Ino growled at him. She sighed "Sakura, you can't be so nice to everyone. People will take advantage of you that way" said Ino, took her pink-headed friend by the shoulders. "Oh, but I don't really mind" said Sakura.

Sasuke picked up the meat that Sakura placed on the grill and took a bite.

"Sakura-san's kindness knows no boundaries! Her youthful blossoming is just too beautiful" Lee cried. Tenten sighed "Your sentences just get more and more embarrassing to hear" Tenten said to Lee. "Give it a rest, Tenten" said Neji, taking a chopstick full of rice.

"Oh right, Tenten-san what kind of mission did you come back from?" asked Sakura. "Border patrol reported that they spotted Ame-nin lurking around the fire country's border so we took care of them" said Tenten placed another piece of meat on the grill "Oh yeah, I saw a pretty good looking Ame-nin too" said Tenten. Ino didn't miss the strange choking sound coming from Neji as soon as Tenten said that. "Oooo~ Sounds like someone has a crush on the enemy" mocked Naruto.

"You idiot! I said he was good looking, I didn't say I like him or anything!" snapped Tenten, she stole nervous glances at the stoic Neji. She felt disappointed at his lack of response. "Isn't that the same? You think he's good looking so you like him?" Sai pointed out matter of factly.

"That's not true! I think Neji's good looking too" that came out before Tenten could hold it down. This time Neji really did choke, much amusing his rival of making stoic faces, Sasuke. "A-Ah! I didn't mean it like that, Neji-kun" said Tenten as Lee patted the Hyuga's back in attempt to help his choking.

Ino giggled 'He's so transparent!'

"Tenten, that Ame-nin. Did you even have a good look at him?" asked Ino. "Come to think of it, I only looked at him from a distance" said Tenten. "He might turn out to have some deformed ugly ass face when you look at him from up close" said Naruto. "I look godly no matter how you see me" Takuya remarked. "Bullshit! My farting ass looks godlier than you" said Naruto.

"You picking a fight, Uzumaki!?" snarled Takuya. Naruto slammed his forehead onto Takuya's "So what if I am!?" he challenged. Everyone let them throw insults at each other as they decided to continue with the conversation. "Though it is true that some guys looks better from a distance" said Ino. "They look the same to me" said Shikamaru.

"You barely want to open your eyes, you arse!" scolded Ino. "Troublesome" grumbled Shikamaru. Sasuke didn't feel like taking part in the conversation and picked up his cup of tea again "Ah, but Sasuke looks good from far and up close" Sakura stated happily. Sasuke choked on his tea. Everyone at the table dropped what they were doing and looked at the rosette. Takuya and Naruto stared at her with their mouths slightly open. "Especially when he's sleeping" she smiled brightly and placed her hands on her cheeks in a fan girlish way.

Takuya and Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground.

"Sakura!" choked Sasuke, clearly embarrassed as he failed to hide his blush. "But it's true!" Sakura retorted.

Lee was sobbing "I am so envious of you, Sasuke-kun! I, too wish to have such an honest and innocent girl as my girlfriend to be part of my youth! BUT I WON'T GIVE UP EVEN THOUGH MY CHERRY BLOSSOM OF YOUTH HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM ME, I'LL WAIT EVEN A MILLION YEARS! UNTIL THEN I WILL PRESERVE MY YOUTH!"

Tenten and Ino looked at the bowl headed man as he broke out into a sobbing fit then sighed. "Oi, Teme! You didn't tell me you guys already moved in to sleep together!" shouted Naruto. "They must be rushing to do it" said Sai. "Teme, I'll hurt you bad if you hurt Sakura-chan in bed!" threatened Naruto. "Hey dickless, don't need to get so upset just cause you can't do it" said Sai. "I TOLD YOU I HAVE ONE!" Naruto roared. Sakura tilted her head slightly in question "Sasuke does it hurt to have sex? And don't all boys have one? So why would Naruto not have one?"

Sakura didn't miss the little twitch on the corner of Sasuke's eye as he glared at Naruto and Sai. The two were in the middle of arguing when they heard the sound of birds chirping uncontrollably. "You fucking perverts... Don't fill Sakura's mind with your disgusting thoughts" Sakura glared at them with his sharingan activated and his Chidori in one hand, ready to blast Naruto and Sai through the roof.

"Alright, Sasuke. We won't do it again. So just chill, know?" said Naruto, nervously. "Y-Yeah, we didn't mean to" even the usually emotionless Sai sounded nervous. Ino and Tenten were laughing their asses off as Naruto and Sai reasoned with Sasuke to put off his attack that was pushed dangerously close to Naruto's face.

"You're so lucky, Sakura. You're so honest about everything" said Tenten after she stopped laughing "Not to mention your boyfriend looks like a super model" sighed Ino. "Keh! I bet if the Uchiha didn't have this so called 'Godly looks' he wouldn't have won Sakura over" said Takuya, sourly.

Sasuke froze, was this true? Sakura only loved him because he looked good, like she said? The Uchiha found himself staring self-consciously at Sakura. However she didn't notice him staring "That's not true!" snapped Sakura. Takuya's head snapped towards her. "There are a lot of things I like about Sasuke, other than his looks" said Sakura.

She put a thoughtful finger on her chin "Like how he's so cold on the outside but he's really gentle on the inside" Sakura grinned with a faint tint of pink on her cheeks "Or how he doesn't hesitate to save a friend, and sometimes when he treats you harshly is because that's how he shows he cares" Sakura turned and looked at the scarlet red Sasuke and smiled at him "Or like how he is easily embarrassed when someone compliments him" Sasuke was trying to hide the lower part of his face and he found it hard to swallow.

"Ahhh~ The love in the air is suffocating..." choked Ino. "T-they look like they're in their own world" said Hinata. Takuya lost completely, he knew his chances were crushed into nothing. Looks like he was just going to have to live with it. He smirked 'I'll admit defeat this time, Uchiha'

"Ah... If only I had a boyfriend like that" sighed Tenten. She threw in another slice of meat. Neji put down his chopsticks. Ino and Hinata noticed that he was deep in thought and they had an idea on what he was he considering and mentally encouraged him- though he doesn't know that.

"You'll never know when someone might ask you, usually they stalk you for a while before jumping the question out of nowhere" said Ino, eyeing Neji as he fidgeting in his seat. He just needed a little more push "Eh?! Isn't that like a little embarrassing if they suddenly ask you out?" said Tenten. "Then you can't refuse. But you if have someone in mind already then you should totally ask him out, before you _miss_ the chance" Ino was looking at Neji the whole time.

"I get what you mea- HEY CHOUJI THAT WAS MINE" snapped Tenten. "I have acquired the last piece of meat!" said Chouji, holding it up before stuffing it in his face. Tenten sighed and put down her chopsticks and proceeded in emptying her cup.

"Sai, we should get going. We have an early mission tomorrow" said Takuya, standing up. Followed by Sai "Thanks for the meal" the dark haired one said. Ino just waved her hand at him as she had her mouth fun. "Take care, Sai, Takuya" said Sakura. "Don't come back, Tako-house!" shouted Naruto. Takuya flipped him off before disappearing out the door.

"I-I should be returning soon before my f-father starts to worry" said Hinata, standing up. "It's late, I'll walk you home" offered Naruto. Hinata turned red and nodded slightly. As Naruto walked out with Hinata, Neji narrowed his eyes dangerously at Naruto who just raised his hands innocently before joining the timid girl outside.

"Everything seems so much more quieter now" said Tenten. "That's cause Naruto's gone" said Shikamaru. "That boy makes noise everywhere he goes" said Ino. "But it's always so comfortable in that kind of atmosphere" said Sakura. "I hate to admit it, but yeah. It is" said Ino with a small smile. "It's getting late, we should go" said Sakura.

Everyone agreed and stood up after her. "Thanks for inviting me to such a youthful event! I will appreciate it for the rest of my life" cried Lee. "Yeah, sure" said Ino. "Thanks Ino" said Tenten as she left with her teammates. Chouji put a hand on Shikamaru's shoulder "I can hear my mom calling, I gotta go. Looks like you have walk Ino home, Shikamaru" said Chouji as he made a bee line for the door. "Tch" exclaimed Shikamaru, but he didn't complain. Ino and Sakura parted ways as they live in totally different areas.

"Looks like you're stuck with walking me home, Sasuke" joked Sakura. "We live in the same house, Sakura" said Sasuke, giving her an amused look. Sakura chuckled lightly as she intertwined her fingers with his, they walked in silence but enjoyed each other's company.

When they reached home, they found a whole squadron of ANBU outside the manor, "Haruno Sakura" said the captain as he stepped up to her. Sakura had to look up slightly to meet his eyes through the ANBU mask. "Yes?" she answered, not letting go of Sasuke's hand.

"The village council has decided to entrust the beast child to you as she refuses to speak to anyone, even when under interrogation. And since you the only one in the village capable of controlling her chakra, it is only safe to leave her with you while the council decides what to do with her" said the captain.

Sakura scowled a little as she felt the peculiar little flare of chakra in the midst of the squadron, completely surrounding her. "The council expects your report of her every day on her progress, unless you are sent on a mission." said the Captain. "Alright" Sakura smiled at the captain "You may leave now"

The captain nodded then signaled his squadron before they all disappeared. Sasuke felt Sakura's hand slip from his and she approached the child, she stood at her full length. Her eyes were an unusual shade of red as she stared up at Sakura, her black hair was frizzy and untrimmed as they covered her shoulder and ended at her chest. Her fringe was long and it covered half of her left eyes. Her clothes were the same as they were when Sakura handed her over to the hospital's care.

Sakura smiled at the child, she was clearly afraid. Yet she had brilliantly hid any traces of fear on her face. She reminded Sakura of herself before she had met Team Kakashi. "Hi, I'm Sakura" she knelt down to her level.

The child looked genuinely surprised, her fingers clenched and unclench.

"That voice... You're that onee-chan in my head" she said, her voice was soft and sort of emotionless. "What's your name?" Sakura asked. The girl seemed reluctant to speak again. Sakura smiled "That's okay, let's go inside and get you cleaned up first, shall we?" said Sakura, she stood up and turned to look back at Sasuke.

"Sorry, Sasuke. Looks like there's going to be another freeloader in your house" Sakura chuckled nervously. "It's fine, it's your house too" said Sasuke. "Ah" Sakura turned back to the child "That onii-san over there is Sasuke." said Sakura. Sasuke looked down at the kid, he didn't look the least bit interested in her. But Sasuke didn't show interest in anything at all, except when Sakura makes a move on him. Pervert.

The child seemed slightly intimidated by Sasuke's blank gaze. Sakura laughed lightly, "It's okay, he only looks mean but he's actually a nice person" she told her. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Sakura. She just stuck her tongue out at him and unlocked the door, letting them in.

The girl stepped lightly inside. "Let's bath together" Sakura smiled and held out her hand. Sasuke's head immediately turned to Sakura when he heard the words 'Bath together' coming from Sakura. Though it wasn't an offer directed at him (Much to his dismay), he wondered how girls could be so...

Comfortable with being completely naked with each other.

His girlfriend seemed to have forgotten all about him as her attention revolved around the mini raven-head. However when he saw Sakura glowing with happiness as she led the little girl up the stairs, he figured he'll just let this one slide.

He should wash up for bed too.

...

Sakura helped the girl wash her hair as she sat quietly in the bathtub that Sakura never once used. "Is the water too hot?" asked Sakura. The girl shook her head quietly. As Sakura rinsed the bubbles out of the girl's hair, her eyes narrowed in on a whip scar on her back. The girl jerked forward when her fingers brushed across it. "Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to" said Sakura, apologetically.

"Let me see, I'll heal it for you" said Sakura. The girl looked at her with untrusting eyes are first, but her shoulders sank back down when she saw no bad intentions in Sakura's eyes. 'Something about her is just so... soothing'

Sakura lit her hand and placed it gently on the old wound, the skin around the gash was slightly swollen, it must've been left untreated for quite some time. That means it must've been done before she lost control and invaded the village. It didn't take much chakra out of Sakura, it was a simple heal.

The girl reached to touch her back, realizing that there wasn't any pain. "Now we can wash your back" said Sakura, she reached over to grab her bottle of body wash and squeezed some of its contents onto her hand.

The girl watched in admiration as how Sakura was so comfortable with this and how she so easily accepted her, even though she knew that she was a monster that nearly wretched the village. Sakura ran her hands down her back and began to rub. The girl never felt so at peace.

After she finished washing up the girl, Sakura proceeded to clean herself as well. The girl sat in the bathtub, half her face dunk in the water as she watched Sakura. The rosette hummed softly as she had a head full of bubbles, she turned the tap and the water flattened her hair, washing away the bubbles.

After the bath, had just finished wrapping herself in a towel that she realized she didn't have an extra towel. Looks like she was going to get one from the storage. "Wait here for a second, I'll go get you a towel" she said before stepping out the bathroom and closing the door behind her. She stepped out her room only to bump into Sasuke. What a coincidence (A/N: I totally planned this from the start :D)

"Hey, Sasuke" said Sakura. Sasuke stared at her, she was half naked and all she could say to him was 'Hey, Sasuke'?! "Sakura, _what_ are you doing half naked, outside your room?" said Sasuke, though it sounded like he had to force it out. "I needed to get another towel from the store room" said Sakura.

Sasuke sighed "I'll go fetch the towel, get yourself dressed. You'll catch a cold" said Sasuke. Sakura's face lit up "Thanks, Sasuke" she said as she stepped back into her room. Sasuke swallowed, his face burning up as he moved down the corridor. Damn hormones.

Sakura poked her head into the bathroom to find the girl still in the bathtub. "Sasuke's going to get you a towel, so hold on for a little longer, kay?" she said. The girl looked at her then nodded. Sakura got dressed in her sleep wear, it's been awhile since she actually had a chance to wear it since usually she either wakes up in a hospital or she collapses on her bed due to exhaustion in her casual clothes.

She hung her towel around her neck and glanced down at her pajamas which was a simple light pink shirt and matching long pants. Sasuke knocked on the door and opened it, "Here's your towel" he said, entering. Sakura took it from him, "Thanks" said Sakura, she tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek "Good night, Sasuke" she said. Sasuke smirked and walked out.

Sakura opened the bathroom door and the girl looked at her. "Come, let's get you dried" said Sakura, holding up the towel.

Sakura knelt down to level with the girl as she ruffled her wet hair, drying it as much as possible. "Shura..." Sakura paused "Eh?"

"My name is Shura"

**Next Chapter**

"Ow ow ow be a little more gentle, Sakura-chan!"

"How could you even think of leaving the village without a direct order?!"

"Pseudo - Jinchuuriki, huh?"

"The Fire Temple"

"She's not a monster!"

Question

Which couple from the previous generations do you like most?

Leave the answers in the reviews or just ignore it if it's too troublesome for you XD

* * *

**Please don't hit me, my author powers were stolen from me by a giant octopus and therefore I am having trouble writing anything worth reading at the moment. No worries, I'm not just going to let my stories go and leave my readers hanging so I'm going to work harder. But my updates aren't going to be so frequent- then again it was never frequent XD I am now going to answer questions and reviews. **

** Zombie Dude I might consider writing a chapter where the whole konoha 12 gets a day off at the beach and have their fun, but it's probably going to be on the next story after I've ended this one so look out for it :D also, yes I am going to have a special chapter with the previous generations as main focus. Look out for that too :D **

** Guest NOOOOOO~ I'M SO SORRY FOR BEING TOO LATE! DON'T DIE! **

**I'm not sure if you guys are the same person, so I'm just going to answer both XD **


	13. Monster

******I don't think anyone actually reads this so skip right to the story, I'll give my report of excuses at the end of the chapter :3**

**Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.**

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**Monster**

Sasuke heard his door creak open, he sighed and buried his head in his pillow. It's been almost a week since Shura came to live with them and she was starting to get on his nerves. Mainly because Sakura send her to wake him up instead of coming to wake him up herself, killing the chances of his morning kiss. And also cause Shura calls him-

"Chicken ass, get up. Sakura-nee's done with breakfast"

Sasuke twitched, if he could just reach for his holster by his bed side and just fling it at the little twerp standing beside his bed, he just might be able to pass it off as a misfire.

But Sakura is going to make a big deal out of it and she is going to further neglect him for the raven-haired girl. He then made a mental note to never have kids when he and Sakura get married. When he refused to get up, she just stood there. Staring at him with those eyes that don't fit the body of a child; it creeped him out to no end.

He sighed and eventually got up, shooting a glare at Shura. As usual the girl seemed unaffected; his glares were well known because even grown men cower in fear from the intensity. He sometimes wonders if that girl was actually a demon in disguise. Then a thought hit him.

Was it a male demon or a female demon?

Because it sleeps in the same bed as Sakura. Yeah, the bed that he only had the pleasure of sleeping in, once. It was so unfair how Sakura only knew the girl for less than a day and she already offered her bed to... _it._

Sasuke was going to keep a close eye on Shura.

He came downstairs, to find Shura already seated and stuffing her face with bacon. The girl had a weird addiction for anything that came from animals. _'Definitely demon' _Sasuke thought. Sakura came out of the kitchen with two plates, his mood was immediately lifted. "Morning, Sasuke" she greeted him and placed the two plates down before walking up to him and giving him a peck on the cheek.

He caught Shura rolling her eyes- then smirked.

After breakfast, Sakura left for the hospital with Sasuke accompanying him. Shura didn't like leaving the house so Sakura got permission from Sasuke to let her read in the manor's archive.

Sakura had just reached the hospital when she bumped into someone familiar outside the hospital entrance. "O-Oh, hey... Sakura-chan"

Naruto and Kakashi's were bodies beaten up, bruised and scratched everywhere. They had to borrow Chouji and Shikamaru's shoulders to be able to walk, though Kakashi was beaten up so badly he had to thrown over Chouji's shoulder in order to be transported. Sakura looked at the other, Chouji, Shikamaru and Ino. They looked like they had been in a battle but their injuries weren't serious. Where the hell had they been, and why were Sasuke and her left behind?!

"Naruto! Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said, sharply. Sasuke smirked, looking rather amused. Where ever they've been looks like they paid for it. Sakura was not going to take this well.

Naruto and Kakashi found themselves being brutally bandaged by Sakura. Kakashi had just finished his part of the torture and was now lying soullessly on the hospital bed across Naruto's. Sasuke watched with a smirk on his lips as he watched his teammate and teacher get lectured by his girlfriend.

Sakura grumbled something under her breath about not taking her and being inconsiderate jerks. She gave his bandage a hard tug "Ow ow ow be a little more gentle, Sakura-chan!" whined Naruto, gripping his shoulder as Sakura wrapped his arm. Sakura grumbled something before shouting "How could you even think of leaving the village without a direct order?!"

"I guess we didn't have time to think about the consequences" said Naruto, sheepishly. "No wonder I felt something was wrong when I didn't see you two for two whole days! I thought perhaps you were training at some secret place or something" said Sakura, she lit her palm with chakra and proceeded to heal the massive bruise on Naruto's lower back.

"You should've at least told me, I would've went and talked to Tsunade-sama about it. Then at least we'll know if we needed to send a backup team to you guys" said Sakura. She always worries too much when people keep things from her. "Instead of popping out of nowhere, half dead and on the brink of collapsing. I scares me to think what would happen if you didn't return and no one would know what happened to you guys" Sakura's tone softened. Kakashi glanced at her with his sharingan eyes closed. Naruto turned his head to catch a glimpse of her stressed out features.

Anger struck her eyes once more as she turned her head furiously to Kakashi, who tensed at her glare. "And you! Sensei! How dare you sneak out of the hospital and into battle when you weren't due to leave the hospital till another week later!" she yelled at him. "W-Well, you see Sakura. I-I heard that Shikamaru and the other wanted to leave to get revenge on a pair of Akatsuki members and I couldn't let them go without an adult supervision" Kakashi quickly said,

Sakura's eyes narrowed at him then she sighed "I know you're angry about what the Akatsuki did to Asuma-sensei as well" said Sakura, she scowled at him again "But that doesn't mean you can go risk yourself as well" she snapped.

Kakashi smiled, his little kunoichi was growing up so fast. "Especially when you're my patient" she scowled at him. His face turned green with fear when he remembered the rough treatment Sakura gave to his dislocated shoulder, he gulped- maybe too fast.

Sasuke walked over to the door and slide it open only to have Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru stumble in. They had heard everything. "Hey, Sakura" said Ino from the floor. "Why are you guys standing out there?" asked Sakura. "Yeah, I wonder" said Sasuke, sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Ino shot him a look then stood up, dusting herself. Laughing nervously she said "Oh, you know...I just happened to be leaning against your door when I was..." she glanced over at her two teammates getting up. "Talking to Shikamaru and Chouji! We weren't eavesdropping or anything" she added a little too loudly. "Oh... How strange, you all fell in together" said Sakura with a slight giggle.

Ino let out another nervous laugh. 'Thank god Sakura's a complete trusting idiot'

Sasuke wondered if Sakura actually had a disorder where she believes whatever she's told. Ino's face fell serious, she looked rather relieved. "E-Erm... Sakura." she began. Sakura stopped healing Naruto's injury, she was actually done. The bruise had nearly completely faded. "Is there something on your mind? Ino-chan?" asked Sakura. "Thank you... all of you" she muttered. "For saving my teacher and avenging him" she said "Ino..." muttered Chouji. Shikamaru looked at his blonde teammate, her words were genuine and her tone was grateful but a little frustrated. As if she didn't know how to expression how grateful she was to them. Ino's eyes started to water but before Sakura could say anything about it she wiped it away with the back of her hand and sucked in "I'll definitely pay you guys back. So be prepared" she gave them a quick smile before proceeding out the door with Shikamaru and Chouji.

Sakura just watched for a moment before a thought hit her "Ah, Ino-chan!" she called out, earning back their attention. "Asuma-sensei is awake, why not we all pay him a visit" Sakura smiled. Sasuke could see everyone's eyes widen, after all they had been gone for two days. In fact he was one of the first few to see Asuma wake from his week-long coma.

With permission from Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi were allowed to come along- though she was rather reluctant to let them move at all. They found themselves gathered outside of Room 206, Sakura told them to wait as she went in.

Sakura slid the door open only to see Kurenai and her slightly bulging stomach, sitting at Asuma's bedside. Their hands joint as they turned and look over at her. She gave an acknowledging bow of her head to Kurenai and the woman responded with a smile. "Asuma-sensei, you have visitors" she said before stepping aside and letting Ino, Chouji and Shikmaru in.

Asuma's eyes widened slightly before they squinted slightly as he smiled at them. "Yo"

Chouji immediately broke into tears as he rushed to his bedside, wrapping his arms around Asuma's torso before crying into it like a child. Ino walked in slow steps towards her sensei, hands clench as she looked down. Asuma was giving Chouji a one-arm hug as he smiled at his childishness; he looked up at his blonde student. "Ino..." he muttered, then slipped his hands out of Kurenai's and reached out to ruffle Ino's hair. Ino looked up slightly as she was biting her lower lip as tears continued to trickle down her face. "You did well"

Catching his word's deeper meaning, Ino's face scrunched up as she dove in and hugged Asuma the same way Chouji did, sobbing into his hospital robe. Shikamaru stood in front of Asuma's bed, with his hands in his pockets and giving his sensei a smirk. "Glad you're doing well" he said, but four words were enough for him. Anymore would be 'troublesome' to him. "Yeah..." said Asuma.

"Asuma ossan!" called Naruto, loudly. "Hey, Naruto" Asuma greeted the hyperactive blond. "How're ya doing" he asked with a his signature grin. "Well, better than you" joked Asuma, noticing Naruto's wrapped up injuries all over his body. Naruto laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"I heard you guys went against Tsunade's order to avenge me" said Asuma. Ino and Chouji sniffled and wiped their tears, knowing that their sensei was really alive. "Yeah..." answered Shikamaru, rumors do travel fast in the village, he had probably heard it from Kurenai who had arrived awhile before they came. They came out pretty lucky actually; Shikamaru didn't have any injuries besides that bruise on his arm when he fell from dodging Hidan's spear. Ino had a small scratch on her cheek and Chouji had a bruised palm. Naruto and Kakashi were the ones that had gotten themselves beaten up by all six of Kakuzu's heart but they made sure to returned the favor with 3 times the interest rate.

"You should know that I didn't want that, you could've died" said Asuma, his voice was stern as his students stayed silent, was he angry that they had risked their lives to avenge him? Well he should be, they knew Asuma wasn't one to hold grudges. But this was completely decided by their free will, they were ready to accept any punishment for it.

"But thanks" Asuma smiled at them and ruffled Chouji and Ino's hair. The two smiled at each other then looked at Shikamaru, giving him the 'I just got permission to go to the theme park' look of a child. Shikamaru had a small grin on his face. "Sure" he told his teacher. Asuma's eyes glanced over at Kakashi, the silver haired jounin was in his sleeveless shirt that clung tightly to his body and it came with a mask. "Looks like you got yourself battered up pretty badly, Kakashi" said Asuma. The two chuckled and rubbed the back of their heads identically.

They were both really similar, but different in their own way. They got along well and they looked out for each other. "I owe you one for taking care of my team while I was-" he paused and thought for the right word "Out of commission"

Kakashi chuckled "Well, Someone has to keep an eye on the kids" said Kakashi. "We are so not kids anymore!" retorted Ino and they laughed. "I owe your team for coming to our rescue as well, you've trained these kids well, Kakashi" said Asuma. Kakashi was beaming with pride. Finally Asuma turned to Sakura, who was standing shyly in a corner with Sasuke. "Sakura" he said. The pink-haired kunoichi heard her name being called and approached the jounin's bedside, Chouji stepped aside.

Sakura hadn't been particularly close to Asuma, the first time they had spoken was when Tsunade sent Sakura on an errand to deliver a mission de-briefing report to Asuma when she was still studying under the Sannin.

When Ino had started her apprenticeship under Tsunade as well, Sakura began to see more of Asuma. Although it was more like she watched from the sidelines as Ino talked to her teacher, since they always walk home together. Ino said it was dangerous for girls their age to be walking around after sunset alone.

And when Ino bumps into her sensei on the way home she'd stop him for a chat before going home, and by listening to their conversation, Sakura had a clear image of the kind of person Asuma was like.

"I never got my chance to thank you" said Asuma "So, thank you. I really owe you my life" his eyes unconsciously glanced at Kurenai then to her stomach. Sakura smiled "You're welcome, really I should be apologizing for using an unstable technique on you. It was supposed to completely heal your body but instead you were placed into a coma, I guess I still can't control it" said Sakura.

"But it was thanks to your brave decision that I'm here, alive" said Asuma, chuckling lightly. "I guess so" Sakura beamed, linking her hands behind her. "Right, out with the children" said Kurenai, shooing everyone out. Kakashi snorted "Children?" he said, outrageously. He wasn't about to let himself be classified as someone like them. Kurenai gave him a shove on the back as she pushed him out the room. "Family members only" said Kurenai.

Chouji turned back from the door "Then how come you're not leaving, Kurenai-sensei" he said. Shikamaru sighed at his friend's slowness. Kurenai gave him a grin "Like I said, Family members only" she gave them a warm smile. Realization hit them, but before they could react she had already closed the door on them.

"Those two must be doing something dirty in there" snickered Ino. Shikamaru and Chouji turned red, imagining the teacher they both looked up to, doing dirty things with Kurenai-sensei was rather disturbing as they never really knew he could do something like that. More like they just didn't want to imagine it.

"I wonder if it's a boy or a girl" Sakura wondered out loud. Ino clasped her hands together "I hope it's a girl" she squealed. "Well I hope it's a boy!" said Naruto. Shikamaru smirked, remembering Asuma 'last words' to him. His king. He had entrusted his unborn child to him.

Just then an ANBU member appeared out of nowhere "Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke. The Hokage desires your presence"

Sakura and Sasuke looked at each other then nodded. "Kakashi-sensei, Naruto. Go back to your room and rest. If I catch you out of bed and I'll make it so that you stay here for another week" threatened Sakura with a smile. It's usually the ones that can smile as they threaten that are dangerous- because you know they are fully capable of doing so. A shiver went down their spine as they nodded.

Sakura and Sasuke disappeared along with the ANBU.

They were at the Hokage's office in a few minutes; the ANBU opened the door for them and allowed them in. He left after closing the door. "You wanted to see us? Tsunade-sama" said Sakura. "Yes, it's regarding Shura" said Tsunade. Sakura's heart raced at the topic. She had grown rather attached to the little raven head; she even went to the extent of buying her a few outfits instead of that torn up yukata.

At the same time Sakura's been keeping her word about the reports every day, though she had yet to hand in a report for today. She had found out various things about Shura, like the fact that she was actually a girl from a village that had been destroyed by loan sharks 7 years ago, she alone survived. A passing shaman found her and raised her in his village.

She didn't talk about the beast much, but she said she remembered that a man with long hair killed the shaman and then when she thought he was going to kill her, he grabbed her head and that's all she remembered.

Sakura guess that she must've sensed her life in danger and the seal holding her back was triggered, kind of like Naruto's seal. Maybe she was going to find out what exactly was in Shura.

"After we've carefully analyzed her medical data, the damage on her epithelial tissues were the same as the ones on Naruto when he went into his four-tails. "So she's a Jinchuuriki?" asked Sakura, she had suspected that since the chakra of the beast was destructive like Naruto's Kyuubi chakra. "No, we believe that she is a Pseudo-Jinchuuriki with the chakra mixture of three bijuus, even though the amount couldn't be anything significantly high, as it was sealed in a 10 year old girl. However this just shows how terrifying the bijuu's chakra can be if fallen into the wrong hands" said Tsunade.

Sakura looked down, "Pseudo-Jinchuuriki huh?" she muttered. She knew how tough it was to be a Pseudo-Jinchuuriki, they had no official seal to hold the bijuu's chakra back. The release of the bijuu's chakra solely relies on their emotions; if the Pseudo-Jinchuuriki has an emotional breakdown they won't be able to stop the beast chakra from taking over. Maybe that was why Shura had acted so emotionless, maybe she already knew what was inside of her and tried to prevent it. Sakura had seen what was it like for a Pseudo-Jinchuuriki to lose themselves, she had nearly been a victim too if Sasuke and Naruto hadn't shielded her from his lunge. _Sora..._

Sakura wondered how was he doing, it was a little over half a year that they had last seen Sora in the fire temple.

"And? I don't think you would drag both of us here just to tell us that" said Sasuke. "You're right, I have a mission for you two" said Tsunade. Sakura felt her heart tighten, she knew where this was going. "I need you two to escort Shura out of the village" said Tsunade, her voice was grave as her eyes narrowed "I'll bet the word has already gotten out to the other villages about a chakra beast attacking Konoha. And no doubt they'll instantly assume it's a bijuu and they'll come for Shura." said Tsunade.

"But where will we move her to? Won't it be the same no matter where we try to hide her? She'll be safer behind the walls of Konoha" said Sakura. "The Fire Temple" Tsunade stated. Sakura looked like she withdrew her previous argument. "If she stays she will be endangering both Konoha and herself, and not only that but the next time she snaps we might not be so lucky to have you around to suppress her chakra. The village doesn't have the techniques to seal her chakra." said Tsunade.

Then Sakura remembered that the fire temple had scrolls filled with different types of ancient sealing techniques, they were currently teaching Sora how to control his chakra and training him to handle his bijuu chakra. The seal that had sealed the bijuu's chakra into Sora had come from the Fire Temple's archive as well.

Shura may have Bijuu chakra in her veins but unlike Naruto she couldn't do anything to protect herself. But in the Fire Temple she'll be able to learn how to use that power and she'll be hidden from the other villages. The Fire Temple was one of the most secure places in the Fire Country. Sakura had nothing to object about.

"This is an A - rank escort mission" said Tsunade. Sakura and Sasuke nodded, straightening. "Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura. Your mission is to escort Shura to the Fire Temple, I will assign Sasuke as the leader of this mission." Tsunade's eyes hardened "Failure is not an option" said Tsunade. They nodded and made their way back.

This was their first pair mission, since both their sensei and Naruto were out of commission. Sakura wondered why Tsunade was in such a hurry to get Shura out of the village, they could've waited till their team had recovered before sending them off to the mission. Then at least Sakura would have a little longer with Shura.

Sakura wondered if Shura would go willingly. What if she doesn't want to? What would she do?

She was supposed to return to the hospital to complete her shift but Tsunade gave her a day off with Shura before they leave for the mission tomorrow morning.

"Do you think she would agree to go? Sasuke" asked Sakura. There was a pause "It's not like she has a choice, Sakura" said Sasuke. "I know" Sakura muttered "But I don't want to think she's being forced out of the village" said Sakura.

Honestly Sasuke was pretty happy with kicking the little dweeb out of the house (cause he didn't like sharing Sakura) but he doesn't want Sakura troubled either- because he won't know what to do to comfort her.

They walked up the front porch of the Uchiha Manor, when Sakura opened the door. She found Shura standing at the doorstep, ready to greet her. "Welcome back, Sakura-nee" she said, there was a rather obvious ring of excitement in her voice even though she kept her face neutral as she always did. Shura didn't bother to even look at Sasuke, Sakura gave her a smile and as soon as the she stepped into the house, Shura latched herself as close as possible to Sakura.

"You're back early, is there something wrong?" she asked. For a 10 year old, she was awfully sharp. Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, who gave her a reassuring nod. Sakura knelt down to Shura's level "Shura... there's some-"

"You're going to send me away, aren't you" Shura cut her off immediately

Sakura was surprised when Shura cut her off, and guilty that she let the fact that she was, in a way sending Shura off show so obviously on her face. Sakura swallowed "N-No! That's not it, the Hokage has found you a new home in the fire country. It's a very safe place, and you'll-" Sakura paused for a moment "You'll be able to learn how to control your chakra there" she said. Shura stared at her with that blank expression; no matter how hard Sakura tried she could never read that little girl's expression. Even Sasuke wasn't this hard to read.

She bit her lower lip and waited for a reaction.

"So you're leaving me?" Shura muttered though it sounded off as more of a statement than a question. Sakura couldn't look her in the eye any longer "It's too dangerous for you to be in the village, Shura. When the shinobis from the other village arrives, I might not be around to protect you. But the Fire Temple would be able to hide you, the monks there are very strong, and I also have a friend there. He's just like you" Sakura poked Shura's chest. "He has a very strong chakra infesting in him too, but he's working hard to learn to control it" said Sakura.

"A-Are you going to take me there...?" said Shura. Sakura could see, her eyes were watering and her pupils wavering. "Every step"

The next day, they stood at the gate of the village for a brief moment. It was about a day's run to the Fire temple, but with Shura it's going to take about a 3 day's walk. "Are you ready?" asked Sakura. Shura looked up at her then nodded. Sakura took her hand and walked out of the village with her, she snuck a few glances at the younger girl only to catch her looking back at the village multiple times.

"It's been awhile since we've visited Sora-kun" said Sakura. Sasuke snorted "We never visited him" said Sasuke. "Exactly! I wonder how he's doing" said Sakura. Sasuke scowled, he hadn't forgiven Sora for attacking Sakura and he didn't exactly get along with the foul mouthed twit either. The pair literally _cannot_ start a conversation with each other. One moment they're looking at each other then the next, they're throwing insults at each other like their life is on the line.

Sakura felt Shura tug at her hand and she looked down to meet her eyes "What is this, Sora person like?" asked Shura, sounding almost hesitant. Sakura smiled "Let's see... how would I describe Sora-kun" Sakura placed a thoughtful finger on her chin.

Sasuke made a scoffing sound "Arrogant, whiny little bastard" spat Sasuke. "Sasuke! Just because you don't get along with him doesn't mean he's actually like that" scolded Sakura. Sasuke didn't say anything. "Don't listen to him, Shura" said Sakura, laughing meekly. "Sora-kun is a very dedicated monk in training. Though he doesn't seem like it, he actually very nice" said Sakura, she glanced at Sasuke "Like a certain someone I know" said Sakura, in a louder tone. Sasuke snorted and continued being silent throughout the journey as Sakura laid out all the details of the Fire Temple "And then if you look around the buddha statue, you'll see a secret trapdoor around the back. The head monk keeps all of Sora-kun's manga there. Though it's our secret, don't tell Sora-kun" Sakura said with a sheepish grin.

Shura looked up at her with those blank but innocent eyes then nodded.

The day passed quickly and dusk came. Sasuke stopped and looked up at the sky. "We'll set out camp here and continue tomorrow" said Sasuke.

They headed into the forest and off the track as to no attract attention to themselves, when they've found a small clearing they set up a camp fire in which Sasuke ignited with chakra and volunteered to stay on guard for the first half of the night before jumping off, he didn't trail far. Sakura could feel his chakra lingering on a nearby tree.

The kunoichi dug into her pack and pulled out a bento that had been buried in the bottom of her pack. "Dinner" she said happily before opening the small box. Shura's eyes immediately lit up at the sight of onigiris lined neatly in the box.

She picked out the one in the middle and made a huge bite mark on the riceball. Sakura herself took one. In the end they ended up finishing the whole thing on their own and Sakura laid out sleeping back for Shura to lie in and sat right next to her as the raven haired girl slept. Sakura found herself dosing off at some point and she groggily looked up at the sky, it was a softer shade of dark blue and the moon is on the west, meaning it should be time to change shifts with Sasuke.

Sasuke had just finished his rice ball, he licked the pad of his thumb as his eyes trailed along the forest, picking up each and every detail and sound the forest makes. He was sitting on the tree a row deeper in from the campsite, in the direction opposite of the wind. If there were to be someone closing in he would catch their scent, a skill he had inherited from Kakashi when he was still training under the lazy jounin, though it's not as sensitive as Kiba's nose.

He sat on the branch with a leg up and his hand draped on his knee as he dangled the other leg and leaned on his other hand. "Sasuke"

His ears pricked at the sound of Sakura's voice and he turned his head to look at her. "I'll take over" she told him, he nodded and got on his feet and leaping off the branch and headed for the camp site. Sakura took his place and sat on the same spot as Sasuke did. She inwardly smiled as the spot was still warm with his scent.

Sasuke returned to the campsite and sat against a tree closest to Shura, his eyes staring intently at the sleeping bag heaving up and down by the little girl's breathing before eventually he decided to rest his eyes for a moment.

He woke up to the smell of the damp morning air, when he looked up there was dawn. Standing up and stretching his body he walked over to his pack by the smoldered campfire and pulled out a canteen of water and poured it into his mouth. He managed to get in 2 mouthfuls before Sakura landed swiftly beside him.

"Morning" she greeted him with a smile. "Any suspicious movements?" asked Sasuke, screwing the cap back on his canteen. Sakura shook her head, "You know I would've woken you up if there was" said Sakura. Sasuke shrugged "You tend to do stupid things" said Sasuke. Sakura chuckled before they both paused.

Then looked towards where Shura was lying, except she wasn't lying down anymore. She was very much awake, and staring at them. "Don't try to do anything weird around me" said Shura but her eyes were mainly focused on Sasuke. As she stood up and dusted herself and rubbed her eyes Sasuke twitched 'Un-cute kid'

They gathered their things and started off early, the second day is always the most important. If they manage to travel the main distance then the third day would go smoothly. They hoped that there wouldn't be any interference.

They got back on track and walked, though it would be a longer route but it was the easiest route to walk and since they've got a 10 year old with them, they might as well make it easy for her to travel. It wasn't like they were in any urgent hurry. As usual Sasuke took the lead; his senses were always on guard for any surprise attacks or signs of presence.

Hour after hour passed and they were still walking in the same pace, at some point Sakura played a word game with Shura and even tried to make Sasuke play. In the end he didn't because that would tarnish his pride to play such a childish game on such an important mission.

It was already mid noon; they had been walking for 6 hours without break and surprisingly Shura didn't whine or even speak a word of complain. "Are you tired, Shura?" asked Sakura. The little girl shook her head quietly and Sakura smiled before her expression turned grave.

"Sasuke" she said in a loud whisper. The Uchiha didn't flinch but simply replied with a "Yeah..."

Sakura inched herself close to Shura as they moved towards Sasuke who had already stopped walking. In a blink of an eye, they were surrounded by a dozen shinobi with white masks on clinging on their faces. "Kusa-ANBU (Grass ANBU)" said Sasuke, recognizing the symbols tattooed on their arms and hitai-ate.

They hadn't realized that they had neared the border of the Land of Grass. These ANBU had probably just left for an assassination mission and noticed their presence nearing their village and took precautions.

"Speak your purpose, Konoha Shinobi" said the one who seemed to be the team leader. "We're on an escort mission to the Fire Temple" Sasuke answered calmly, refusing to show any signs of openings to the enemy. Well they weren't exactly their enemies, yet. Perhaps they'll decide to kill them for fun for all they know, better to treat them like enemies now than to regret it later.

The team captain glanced between Sasuke and Sakura then down to Shura. He lifted his head back up to level with Sasuke before giving the Uchiha a slight nod of acknowledgment "Very well" he said and the whole team disappeared.

Sakura let out a breath of relief. "We must be near the Kusa border, we must be halfway there" said Sakura. "Though something seems wrong" said Sasuke. "What is?" asked Sakura. "ANBU shinobi don't just stop by and question shinobi from other villages like some kind of officers, and they never take the tracks so it's no way they bumped into us" said Sasuke. "So you're saying something happened in the village that put them on alert?" asked Sakura. "Could be, or they're hunting an unknown target" said Sasuke, maybe he was just thinking too much into it. He shook off the uneasy feeling and decided to continue. It was none of their business anyway. "Let's go, we'll try to reach the temple with the rest of the day" said Sasuke.

Sakura nodded, though she knew Sasuke wasn't looking but it was just a way to boost her determination. She started to walk but someone caught hold of her hand, she felt the small fingers wrap around her hand and squeeze. Shura had a weird look on her face, but something tells Sakura that the stoic little girl is scared. _If only they had known what she felt._

Sakura held on "It's okay, they were just checking" said Sakura. Though that didn't seem to make Shura feel any better.

Around half an hour later, Sakura paused and a cold shiver went down her spine. That empty chakra feeling could only mean one thing. Sasuke seemed to have picked it up in the wind too, the smell of blood in the air. They knew that their Kusa ANBU friends were no eyes widened as he whipped his head around to look at his teammate and escort. Sakura had a look of fear in her eyes "They're coming in our direction" she said. They need to run, now.

Sasuke dove for Shura and scooped her up like a bag before nodding at Sakura and then jumping off. They dodged through the branches as fast as they could they were already halfway, they weren't going to be caught up in this mess. _'Failure is not an option' _

Sakura's body went numb, the enemy was fast. Too fast.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he ducked to safely dodge a kunai, covering the back of Shura's head with his hand before tossing her at Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi caught the little figure with ease before jumping to a high branch to avoid being caught up in the fight. Sasuke knelt down to a squat, both his hands on the branch as he pushed his body up. Kicking both the attackers up the chin and throwing them off balance then he flipped over and decided to take the lower stage.

More attacks went after him, just half a second after he landed on the ground one of the attackers came shooting down with a katana. His blade was impaled deep into the ground and Sasuke took this chance to land a hard kick to his chest before pulling his Kusanagi out to slash him across the chest as he flew. Sasuke spun around and crossed swords with one of them that tried to sneak up on him.

Another one came swinging a kunai at him. Sasuke activated his sharingan and sent a stream of chidori at his attack on the left however it didn't connect; instead the masked shinobi had disappeared.

"Sasuke!" a voice shouted at him, he turned his head and found himself a surprise attack from the above by the same shinobi that dodged his Chidori Nagashi. A wild look in his obsidian eyes as he held a glowing kunai above his head, his body arched and ready to plunge it down on Sasuke who was currently occupied by the sword wielding shinobi. Sasuke pulled his body to the left just slightly allowing the kunai to come down to nothing just missing his shoulder by a millimeter.

He loosened his hold on the sword he was blocking but came back with a violent jerk to the front, making the shinobi stumble and jump back before Sasuke lifted his kusanagi over the shinobi that tried to stab him with a kunai with a swing of his arm he sent the head rolling. Wasting no time for remorse he moved on to his next target.

He lunged at the shinobi with the sword only to be interfered by a raid of kunais, his eyes narrowed in on the kunai with the explosive tag wrapped around it and send a raid of his own to counter it, the kunai with the tag had unfortunately been knocked in front of the swordsman shinobi and exploded, taking out yet another one.

Sasuke flung his kusanagi at the shinobi that threw the kunais at him, it missed him of course. However Sasuke was hoping to catch him in midair where there was no way for him to dodge. He raided the man with shurikens and formed a handseal "Katon, Housenka Tsumabeni (Fire style, Pheonix Fire Shuriken Jutsu)" flames wrapped themselves around the shurikens that Sasuke had sent at the man he didn't waste another moment as he formed more seals "Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu"

That ended yet another life. Without realizing Sasuke had activated his seal, his body began to emit a dark coat of chakra. He jumped and just barely dodged a Sound wave technique, though it managed to catch his left shoulder. His eyes scanned the area for the shinobi and when he locked his eyes on him, he formed a few seals before it was cut off by an immense pain growing from his left shoulder. He fell on one knee and clutched his shoulder.

"Raiton, Rairyuu no Tatsumaki!"

He heard his comrade shout and made himself look for Sakura when he finally found his teammate and Shura backed up against a tree as Sakura tried to keep off all of the enemy shinobi. For some reasons there were so many of them it didn't feel like killing them made any difference. Sasuke struggled on his feet and stumbled towards Sakura, he felt an incoming attack, and he pushed himself to leap forward a few steps, avoiding another round of the sound wave.

If he wanted to get to Sakura he was going to have to kill that guy first and he wasn't about to allow some douche to interfere when Sakura was in danger.

Sasuke threw the thoughts of the pain to the back of his mind and widened his sharingan activated eyes as his chakra overflowed from him and power surged into his body. He disappeared and reappeared behind his target with a kunai. He stabbed the kunai with the explosive tag deep into the target's back then jumped off and let the magic happen.

His attention was immediately turned to Sakura, he glanced over at his kusanagi before pulling it out and going to Sakura's rescue.

So far the pink haired kunoichi hadn't killed anybody yet, but she just had the feeling she didn't want to. She couldn't do much with Shura hiding behind her; all she could do was throw as many attacks at them to make them keep their distance their kunais and shurikens were always deflected by her barrier. Basically she was doing fine, but she was only stalling so Sasuke could take over.

But when her eyes landed on her teammate, her body went numb. His eyes weren't the same not only because he had his sharingan on but they looked so cold, so distant. _So bloodthirsty. _

Sakura mentally slapped herself for having even the slightest thought of fear for Sasuke because she knew no matter how deep Sasuke fell in; she has to be the one to pull him out. Sasuke worked fast, well he was always fast but with his cursed seal at full power he could harness a lot more chakra and energy.

There was also another thing different about Sasuke.

He killed unmercifully.

Sakura was beginning to worry, the usual Sasuke always showed small hints of remorse for every one of his kills but they all knew this was the path of a shinobi. It's either kill or be killed.

The last standing shinobi was send tumbling onto the ground, his neck had been slit and the blood sprayed onto Sasuke a little. Sakura was glad it was over, but she had an uncomfortable feeling rumbling in her guts. And she wasn't hungry.

Sakura's eyes widened when Sasuke swung his kusanagi around at her, causing her to throw herself back with the blade slicing the tips of a few strands of her hair. Sakura ducked and brought Shura down with her to avoid the sudden chidori extension of Sasuke's kusanagi. Sakura grabbed Shura and jumped down the tree only to be pursued by her very own teammate. She didn't understand why Sasuke was doing this. Was it because of the cursed seal, but he's never gone berserk like this after killing a few men.

Then it hit her, no wonder those techniques looked familiar. They were just like those techniques those sound shinobi used at the chuunin exams. Those masked shinobi were from the sound. She could sense more of them coming, they just never end.

Now she understood how they managed to take out a whole team of ANBU without leaving any survivors or carrying any loss. Because those _'shinobi'_ weren't real people. They were moving corpses; they must've had some jutsu placed on them, triggering bloodthirsty impulses throughout the body once you've killed them. They were like a drug and soon the impulses will take over the body and cause you to attack your own comrades.

They didn't kill the Kusa ANBU, the ANBU fought themselves to the death and that event was going to repeat itself if Sakura didn't do anything about Sasuke.

"Sasuke! You're being controlled!" Sakura cried helplessly as she dodged Sasuke's blows as she held on to Shura who was clinging onto Sakura like a child on a mother , she had her head buried in Sakura's chest, as if she was scared to look at Sasuke.

Sakura gritted her teeth and jumped up, landing swiftly on the branch, when Sasuke came chasing after her she winced and muttered "Sorry, Sasuke" before she flipped down, slamming her leg down onto the incoming Sasuke, sending him back to the ground.

She landed in front of him, "Sasuke...?" she asked. The rampaging Sasuke sat up, shaking his head. "Sa...kura?" he groaned. Sakura however, approached him cautiously when she sensed a sudden increase in the number of presence around them. She paused then let Shura down, as she straightened.

They were trapped, what's worst was that she sensed a particularly annoying chakra signature. "Orochimaru" she spat.

The long haired man chuckled and Shura's hands clenched a fistful of Sakura's apron skirt. "I should've known it was you, only a sick bastard like you would do something like this!" Sakura shouted- she was angry now. Shura looked up at Sakura; her furious green eyes were glaring right at Orochimaru.

"I suggest you watch your tone around Orochimaru-sama, Haruno Sakura" hissed Kabuto. Orochimaru raised a hand "It's all right, Kabuto" he said, licking his lips and looking particularly at Sasuke who was still at war with himself, his body was trembling heavily as his ominous chakra leaked out from his body. "I was just walking my dogs and look what flew my way" Orochimaru chuckled darkly "I didn't expect to meet you here, Sasuke-kun, what a surprise" he gave a creepy grin and looked from Sasuke to Sakura, his eyes landing on the small figure holding on to Sakura.

Shura was scared now, she was really scared. She had recognized that voice, that sinister chuckle and that creepy tone. He was the same bastard that wreaked her village and killed the only person that ever meant anything to her. She didn't dare to look at him, afraid that he'd recognize her- _too late_.

"Oh? What do we have here? This day just keeps getting better and better" said Orochimaru. "Shura"

The little girl was startled by the call of her name, but it wasn't Orochimaru who called her. It was Sakura. "It's going to be okay" she whispered to her.

Orochimaru pointed at Shura, Sakura's eyes widened "That" he said. Sakura placed her hand on Shura's shoulder. "If you hand that monster over to me, I will return your precious Sasuke-kun to you" said Orochimaru. Sakura snapped "She's not a monster!"

"Oh? I do believe that you've seen what kind of monster she is, now hand her over"

"And If I don't?" she said rudely.

Orochimaru's eyes grasped a wild look as they widened "Then you may die by the sword of your lover as I rip the little beast out of your bloody hands" he said in the most sadistic manner. This time Sakura did flinch, but not because she was afraid of Orochimaru but because Sasuke had just let out a piercing shriek of pain.

"S-Sasuke...!" gasped Sakura as she tried to reach out to him, but he was in a dangerous state and it wasn't a very smart move to approach him but that wasn't the main reason, Sakura had a responsibility to take care of Shura as well, asking her to choose between Sasuke and Shura was cruel.

Sasuke shot her a painful look, his hand clutching the side of his neck. Sakura bit her lip and her face looked sympathetic look. "You'll have to kill me first" Sakura gave Orochimaru a smug look, not one of her brightest ideas. Orochimaru grinned "So be it"

And Sasuke stood, his body looked limp as if he was possessed by something, then he lifted his head to look at her. Sakura released her Kaiho and built up her barrier, however it was interfered with when Sasuke flung a raid of kunais at her and she had no choice but to dodge it.

Sasuke wasn't going to give her a chance to bring up her barrier and Sakura knew he was fully capable of doing just that. Amidst the fight Sakura had no choice but to leave Shura by the tree and lead Sasuke's attacks away from her. She threw punches at him but she could never bring herself to fight Sasuke whole-heartedly, every time she spotted an opening she went for it, but halfway she would pull out and miss on purpose.

Sasuke on the other hand had no control left over his body, he was doing exactly what Orochimaru wanted him to do and he wasn't even conscious to rage about it. Sakura flipped back and jumped onto the branch, they brought their fight to the air and all you could see was the spark ignited by the clashing of metal and the loud clanging sound.

Caught off guard, Sakura made a misstep and Sasuke ended up behind her. He thrusted his kusanagi at her, catching her side. Blood spurted and Sakura forced herself to block the sideways slash that came with it by blocking the sword with a kunai and letting him swipe her to the side like a doll. She blasted through a tree and stayed there for a moment before her fingers twitched. By the time her nerves restarted and she was able to move again, Sasuke had caught her by the neck and raised her off the ground.

His sharingan pierced into her green eyes. She lifted one of her hands but Sasuke just gave her neck a tight squeeze and she brought her hand to hold his wrist. Sasuke seemed irritated by this and swung her around and slammed her back against a tree, his kusanagi's tip pressing at her chest.

Pain ran up her spine and if Sasuke hadn't been holding so tightly to her neck she would've shrieked. She had her palm against the tree as her fingers nervously feeling the bark on the tree. Past Sasuke's head she could see Kabuto casting a genjutsu on Shura, making her fall asleep and giving one of the corpse shinobi the opportunity to grab her and throw her over his shoulder.

Sakura panicked, she couldn't let them take her. She made a promise, Shura was going to be good friends with Sora she would be happy. Even though she wanted to move, she wanted to keep fighting till she had won but her body said otherwise, she could barely move her hands. Sasuke's last attack might've messed up her nerves.

But instead of worrying for her life, she was more afraid of what would happen once Sasuke snaps out of it and sees her dead with his sword stabbed through her. She knew Sasuke was the type to hold on to the past. He would regret it, then he'd seek revenge on Orochimaru and devote his whole life on vengeance, the mere thought of Sasuke wasting away his life like that because she was too weak to defend herself against him scared her. She tried to move one of her hands and when they twitched she knew she had a chance. She brought her hand up to Sasuke's wrist once more. "Sasuke"

Her voice was no louder than a hoarse whisper but Sasuke could hear her fine. She tightened her hold on his wrist; she injected some of her chakra into Sasuke. Passing through his nerves and freeing one side of his body from the chakra that entered him when he killed those corpse shinobi.

His sharingan didn't look that intense, Sakura hadn't been sure if that was enough to bring him back completely. "Finish it, Sasuke-kun" said Orochimaru.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he pulled back, he seemed to be struggling with himself as his sharingan flashed on and off in his eyes. Orochimaru had an amused look plastered on his face as Sasuke bounded off with Sakura. He nodded and the corpse army went hunting for them as he left with Shura and Kabuto.

Sakura's brain had yet to process what had happened as it all happened in a blur and her senses were dulled by the pain. Her vision cleared up and the first thing that she saw was Sasuke's bright red eyes, concentrated on the path ahead, he looked terrified, his expression was hard and his jaw was clenched and his cursed marks had yet to reside.

Next came the unsettling feel in her stomach as she could feel the forest slowly being filled by more of those _corpse shinobis_, they were in pursuit of them and they were closing in fast. Sakura strained her eyes to look for a hiding spot, but in the speed they were travelling at it was impossible in her condition so she figured she could try to come up with a plan with Sasuke.

"S-Sasuke" she said, hoarsely. She was surprised at how weak she sounded. Sasuke immediately silenced her "Shut up, Sakura" he said. He seemed angry, his eyes showed but Sakura knew his anger wasn't directed at her but at himself.

Sasuke's sharingan eyes scanned the area, taking in every single little detail. He couldn't afford any more mistakes, they lost Shura and he wasn't about to lose Sakura.

He saw the opening and he jumped, landing on the rippling water of the waterfall. He had ran himself all the way to the border of Takigakure (Waterfall Village) without realizing, the best thing about Takigakure was that it was filled with waterfalls off different shapes and with waterfalls comes water, and water just so happens to be able to cut off the scent for even the best of shinobi and where there's a waterfall there's bound to be an inward cave behind the waterfall.

This is where Sasuke had leapt into after taking a step on the water to knock them off the scent then into the waterfall where they got briefly soaked to give them a temporary scent of the water from the waterfall. Sasuke panted as he held onto Sakura, standing in the middle of the never ending darkness of the cave.

His marks refused to go away and if they don't go away he couldn't release his sharingan, he'll have to deal with it later, and right now he had to take care of Sakura's injuries. _Injuries that he had inflicted on her himself. _

He set her down gently on the floor and was about to leave to get some water for her when she refused to let him leave. "Stay" she said and he did. At first he sat leaning against the wall, watching over her but panicked when she tried to get up. "Sakura...!" he hissed at her, lunging to set her down again but she took a handful of his shirt and wrapped her arms around him, making him lean against the wall again, this time his body lay more slanted against the wall as he had Sakura lying on his chest and between his legs.

He didn't dare move a muscle; he laid motionlessly still as Sakura rested on his chest. He was afraid he'd kill her himself but he didn't want to let go, his conscious was screaming at him to let her go, before he does something that'll make her disappear completely.

Sakura didn't speak; her mind went hopelessly blank as she felt the heaving of Sasuke's chest against her cheek. She could feel his disturbed chakra flow, meaning that his seal was still activated. She brought out a little chakra and inserted it into Sasuke's chest without moving. Sasuke groaned as he felt his own chakra being pushed back by Sakura's, it didn't feel very good but slowly he could feel his control on his body returning.

His marks resided and his sharingan automatically turned itself off. He dared himself to move and when he did, he immediately wrapped his arms around Sakura; holding her tightly, and silently.

He stared at the opposite wall for what seemed like ages, his head felt dizzy as he was unsure of whether his eyes were closed or opened. The running water was all they heard and when he started to sense the existence of a hostile presence, quite a few in fact. He saw red once more. His protectiveness of the girl in arms riled him up, he wanted the world to just disappear and leave them alone, if he had to massacre the whole world to achieve it. He thought he really would.

If Sakura hadn't stop his manifesting seal. His chakra seeped out of his body and his seal was released. Sakura's small fist tightened a little on his chest before she murmured "It's okay, Sasuke"

His body tensed again as he forced the marks back down, his breathing heaving his chest once again. Sakura's hands clenched "It's okay..." she croaked in a much weaker voice before she drifted into sobs in Sasuke's chest. Sasuke stroke her hair before kissing her on top of her head "We'll get her back" he said.

Next Chapter

"Don't worry about it, right?"

"Won't be long now"

"I'll send the hounds on them"

"Hey Sasuke, what's with the long haired queer with the makeup that looks like a pedophile"

"I don't like kids."

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**Oh you're done! Great! I personally really like this chapter when I was going grammar hunting. And also I'm actually having a bad case of author's block at the moment so I'd really appreciate it if you can be patient with me as I try to overcome it :D **

**Also I have noticed that some of you don't know the prequel for this story. For those of you that don't know, the prequel is called Red Thread but was previously known as A Different Story. Currently the prequel is undergoing some revising so you can check that out, I do apologize for those of you that are confused. I will try to post the prequel's chapters as soon as possible.**

**Here's the question of the chapter.**

**Who do you think is the most badass character in the series?  **


	14. Rescue Shura

******I know it's been two months and I'm really sorry, I'm really really really sorry. But good news! It's christmas holidays now! And you can expect a new chapter under a month! For now just enjoy this chapter! **

**Disclaimer: Clearly I do not own Naruto XD**

* * *

**Rescue Shura**

Without knowing, Sasuke had unconsciously let himself fall asleep while watching Sakura and when he woke- she wasn't there. Panic had rushed through his system faster than energy. "Sakura!" he cried as he shot up from the wall, black spots danced in his vision and his head started to spin. He stumbled backwards before falling back to sit on the floor like a child that stumbled. "Sasuke...!?" an alarmed voice sounded from the opening of the cave before the footsteps made their way to his side.

He recognized those footsteps, as well as the faint scent of grass that lingered around Sakura. He let himself calm down and his vision cleared up along with the slowing of his breathing.

Sakura was checking his pulse for abnormalities then his eyes. "I'm fine, Sakura" he assured her briefly brushing her hand away. "What happened?" she asked him. "Nothing" Sasuke dismissed it irritably, realizing how hopeless he is without Sakura. Sakura sighed "Don't strain yourself"

Sasuke leaned back on his hands then glanced at Sakura, it seemed she was halfway wrapping up the wound at her side when Sasuke woke up. Sasuke noticed that her left hand didn't seem to be moving and she was having a hard time wrapping the bandage.

He sat up straight and took the bandage roll from Sakura's hands which seemed to be smeared in her own blood. "Let me" he said, just barely managing to get those words out of his mouth. Sakura obliged and lifted her shirt higher so it's easier for Sasuke to wrap the bandages.

The more Sasuke looked at her wound, the angrier her got. He wanted nothing more than the life of the bastard that dared wound Sakura like this but as he got angrier he felt a heavy feeling in his chest. Because he knew, he was the bastard that dared. He secured his work with a tight knot before Sakura pulled her shirt back down. "Does it hurt anywhere else" he asked her. Sakura shook her head "Not particularly" she smiled sheepishly before standing, her hand was still motionless "What happened to your arm" he asked.

"O-Oh, I accidentally paralyzed my shoulder from the spinal cord" said Sakura. Sasuke's eyes narrowed just slightly. "I see..." He knew.

"I-It's only temporary so..." Sakura's voice trailed off. "Don't worry about it. Right?" he said, standing up and dusting himself. Sakura looked up to meet his eyes. "But every time you say that only makes me worry more" he whispered in a hoarse tone. Sasuke lifted his hand onto her cheek "You were crying again, when I was asleep" he said. Sakura bit her lips and lowered her head, she rubbed her eyes "Just a little" she said.

Sasuke bent down over and pressed his lips against Sakura's. The kunoichi blinked her eyes dreamily and made a reluctant face when Sasuke pulled away. "We'll have to leave soon and find the brat before that creep decides to do something" said Sasuke.

Sakura nodded and trailed after him to the opening of the cave. Sasuke turned back to look at her "Get on" he told her. Sakura looked at him. He had his knees bent and his hands behind him. Realizing what he wanted to do, Sakura shook her head "There's not need, I can move on my own" she said. "I can sit here and argue with you for the whole day, Sakura." said Sasuke with a brow raised.

Sakura pouted, he was right. Once Sasuke has his mind made up he's going to get it, whether you want it or not. She approached him sheepishly and picked up her arm, hooking it over Sasuke's shoulder before wrapping the other one around his chest, leaning forward nervously to get lifted off her feet. She let out a surprised gasp and held on to Sasuke with her one moving arm.

Sasuke shot through the waterfall, it was dawn. They had been asleep for over 8 hours, surprising how a little exhaustion of chakra can do to your body. Sasuke activated his sharingan and tried to trace the leftover traces of chakra that the corpse shinobi might've left.

Sasuke sighed when he had no luck. "Sakura can you feel anything?" he said, She shook her head "I don't sense any chakra nearby" said Sakura. "Of course, didn't expect that creep to be left so open" mumbled Sasuke, he looked around and sniffed the air. They'll have to do the tracking the basic way.

He caught small whiffs of the decaying flesh of the corpse shinobi but not enough to trace them. He stood on the branch where the scent is strongest then checked the markings, the friction and force scrapped off the bark and it seemed to be headed towards east. Sasuke kept on in that direction, just following the marks of nature and reassurance of the right path by the smell.

Orochimaru sat in his chair with an arm propped up on the armrest as Kabuto worked on his experiments. Shura stood at his side, eyes blank and staring straight forward. "Won't be long now" he chuckled, stroking her hair with his long fingernails. His slit eyes widened "I'll make sure you completely destroy Konoha this time" he grinned and intertwined his fingers.

"Kabuto, it seems we have visitors" said Orochimaru all of the sudden. Kabuto looked up from his work and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose "I'll send the hounds on them"

Sasuke activated his sharingan on a boulder, there was no doubt about it. There was a seal on it, now all he has to do is try to decrypt the code on it and learn how to deactivate it. "Sasuke, they're here" Sakura whispered next to his ear. Sasuke's brows furrowed "Tch"

If they attacked now they would be a at a huge disadvantage, but then again if they were being attacked by Orochimaru's experiments that would mean they're on the right track. "Sasuke, put me down and keep them busy. I'll deactivate the seal" said Sakura.

Though Sasuke would be faster at decrypting the code with his sharingan, but Sakura couldn't possibly be in any shape to keep anything busy at the moment. He had no choice but to oblige, jumping off the branch they were on and landing near the boulder, he set Sakura down and leapt off into the forest to meet his attackers.

Sakura lifted her sole usable hand to the boulder, lighting it up with her chakra. A sudden burning sensation brushed her fingertips and she drew back. There was a protection barrier around the seal, looks like she'll have to destroy that first before she could decrypt it. This is the disadvantage of not having the Sharingan, you have to make physical contact with the seal to be able to figure it out.

Sakura lit her fist and landed a hard punch, directly confrontation is usually the first thing to try. The barrier flashed and lashed out violently. Sakura pulled her hand back, then looked down at her motionless hand and sighed thinking what a huge handicap it was for her, she couldn't even form seals like this.

She thought for awhile then pushed her palm at the barrier, sparking it up once more. She concentrated her chakra all to the palm of her hands and felt as the burns start to decrease, it was working. Her chakra was slowly pushing the protection barrier back.

She watched as a paper seal could now be seen, her hands went closer and closer to it and with a pinch of her fingers and a tug of her hand she took down the seal's barrier. She had to thank her mentor for the gloves if not her hand would've had the skin scorched off her by now.

Sakura stepped closer to the boulder and placed a hand on the boulder, she channeled her chakra through it, trying to locate the seal on it. When she found it on the other side of the boulder, she began to rearrange the symbols in her mind, trying to turn them into words. In a matter of minutes she has broken the code, memorized it and all she has to do now is to deactivate it.

There was just one problem.

To deactivate the seal she'll need both her hands to form the necessary seals, she'll have to think of some other way she could break it. The code was 'North Snake, West Tiger, East Horse, South Dragon' meaning that she was supposed to form those seals to locate the link seals to deactivate the parent seal.

And since she can't form the seals, she might as well try an manually locate it first before she thinks of how she could channel her chakra to them. It didn't take her very long to locate them since it was practically spelt out for her on the code. She focused on each of the seals and took out four kunais. she only had once chance at it.

If she misses it then they will have no way to deactivate the seal from the inside. Sakura made sure to calculate it properly, she had 1 second and a half to pump different element chakras into each of the four kunais with only one hand. Not only that but each of the kunai has to make contact with only a 2 millisecond difference.

There was no room for mistakes. Then again she could just wait for Sasuke, but since when does Sakura rely on people.

She gripped her kunais by the loopholes and gathered her chakra in her feet, then pushed herself off the ground. She flipped so that her head was downwards then she spun. In one swift moment the kunais took off in a clockwise order. Landing exactly where Sakura aimed.

Sakura flipped back and landed in a not-so-perfect landing. She stumbled backwards and looked to see if she had succeeded. When the boulder had not moved like she had expected it to, she stepped up towards it. That lingering chakra sensation was no long there, it must've worked but it looked like she'll have to manually move the boulder. She clenched her fist, and with a hard punch she reduced a whole boulder to rubble. The thunderous roar of destruction caught Sasuke's attention and he finished binding another corpse shinobi to the tree with his sharingan controlled wires before leaping off in Sakura's direction.

His heart tightened when he heard a scream from where he left Sakura. He skidded to a stop as he entered the clearing in front of the cave. His shoulders heaving and eyes widened.

Meanwhile...

"It seems that they have broken through the defenses. Orochimaru-sama." said Kabuto, standing at Orochimaru's side. The snake man gave a grin "Yes... so it seems" he chuckled slightly. "Shall we prepare to transport?" asked Kabuto. "No, I have a better idea"

In the tunnel towards the lab, Orochimaru sat waiting patiently for his attackers. Amidst the darkness he caught sight of pair of glowing red eyes before a blur of white and black came for his head with the kusanagi. However Sasuke had found it suspicious that Kabuto hadn't jumped out at him, instead he found a small figure, holding a kunai shooting out in front of Orochimaru.

Shit.

He had barely caught himself before he sliced the little girl in two. Shura stood confidently with her blank red eyes staring forward. He withdrew his sword and jumped back when Shura took a swing at him with her kunai. "Oh? I see you're well again, Sasuke-kun" said Orochimaru. "Bastard" he spat, eyes glaring a hole through Orochimaru who was careful not to meet eyes with his sharingan or else he'll be trapped in a genjutsu without realizing it.

"I'm very happy that you've come to visit me but I have no time to play at the moment" chuckled Orochimaru."You can play with this little monster"

Sasuke's eyes widened when Shura had suddenly charged at him, moving swifter than any ordinary 10 year old. She was definitely being controlled. Sasuke dodged her attacks but at the same time he scanned the room for the missing person- Kabuto. He must be the one controlling her actions, if he kills Kabuto then the jutsu should stop. He dodged a swing from Shura and then attempted to leap past her to go find Kabuto only to be surprised by the swift motion of Shura's arm that sent him pummeling into the wall behind him.

When he looked back again Shura was surrounded by a massive glow of red chakra. The look in her eyes was primal and her hair floated around her. Did she just growl? Sasuke's eyes widened as he lifted his kusanagi, blocking off Shura's sudden attack. Her kunai pressing down of his sword- she was winning. The look in her eyes showed that she was no longer ordinary. Then again her usual look wasn't any more ordinary.

Sasuke gritted his teeth when the sudden force pushed his kusanagi to his face, the clashing metals began to shake as Sasuke tried to push back. "Juha Reppu Sho! (Beast Tearing Gale Palm)" Sasuke saw a wave of blue chakra in the shape of a clawed hand chasing Shura off of him. He got back on his feet and looked over at his savior. "You're late, idiot"

Sora twitched, swinging his clawed hand dangerously close to Sasuke's face who stood there fearlessly. "Says the dickhead that can't hold his ground with a kid" Sora replied. Sasuke glared at him, his hands aching to take a swing at the other guy's head. "Oh? What's this? Another troublemaker" said Orochimaru.

Sora took a look at Orochimaru and a shiver went up his spine. "Hey Sasuke, what's with the long haired queer with the makeup that looks like a pedophile" said Sora, taking a step backwards. "You just perfectly described Orochimaru. Congratulations" said Sasuke, he raised his sword and widened his legs. Sora gave him a confused look "Wha?"

Sasuke lowered his head and mumbled "How's Sakura" Sora imitated Sasuke and replied "She's in position"

"Play with the kid, I'll take down Orochimaru" said Sasuke in normal tone. Sora didn't delay any further, once Sasuke went for Orochimaru, Shura acted. Only to be intercepted with Sora. "So you're the dweeb that Sakura wants me to meet" he smirked and Shura growled, her nose creasing in a primal growl "Not very friendly, are you"

Sasuke swung his sword at Orochimaru, slashing his chair in half; only his chair. Sasuke spun around almost immediately, slicing off the snakes that were launched at him and then using his Chidori Nagashi to wrap around the snakes as it trailed them back to Orochimaru. When he stabbed into the user, Orochimaru shed through the skin and lunged his extended head at Sasuke- much to Sasuke's disgust. With a quick motion of his hand Sasuke cut through the head with ease and proceeded to find the real Orochimaru.

Wasting no time after he spotted the creep, he flung a few kunais at the camouflaging snake man, sending him out of his hiding, he continued to dodge Sasuke's kunai. Sasuke threw a fresh bunch at him. He side stepped them but his eyes caught side of the passing kunai and his slit eyes widened before the explosive tags attached to the kunais exploded.

Sasuke cursed under his breath, knowing that his target had escaped. He turned back to Sora and saw his clashing beast chakras with Shura, their fingers intertwined and pushing against one another. Although it seemed like Sora was holding back, afraid that he wouldn't be able to control himself if he used anymore chakra. His eyes were red and slit like Naruto's when he uses his Bijuu chakra but Sora's control of the bijuu's chakra is even worse than Narutos.

Sasuke didn't want to take any chances with him after this is done. He heard a familiar crack of a punch, he jumped out of the way as Kabuto came crashing through the wall. He smirked.

Sakura stepped out from the hole through the wall that she had just sent Kabuto through, panting and holding on to her motionless arm. She glanced at Sasuke and smiled tiredly at him. Shura's eyes began to revert back to normal and her chakra died down. Sora's grip loosened and he let go of her, struggling to push his chakra back into himself, groaning and wincing as he did.

Shura swayed and fell forward only to be caught by Sora.

"Did we do it?" said Sakura. Sasuke looked around, Orochimaru was nowhere to be seen and Kabuto was laying motionless through a wall. "Yeah I think we did pretty well"

_Flashback_

_Sasuke felt his blood run cold when Sakura's scream sounded through the forest, he ran to her as fast as he could, breaking a few branches in the process only to stumble into the clearing he had left Sakura in and find her in the arms of another man. For a moment Sasuke though it would've been better if Sakura was being held hostage by an enemy when he came face to face with Sora. _

_Sakura in fact wasn't screaming, she was squealing as Sora swung her around like a child. Claiming to have missed her. "Look who we bumped into, Sasuke" she said as Sora set her back on her feet. Sasuke was instantly at her side, tugging her towards him and eyes narrowing at Sora who snorted. "As possessive as ever, Sasuke" he said. _

_Sasuke smirked and raised a brow "There's nothing wrong with being possessive of your own girlfriend" he said in mocking tone. Sora scoffed "So you finally ask her out, you've just earned yourself a pair of balls, Sasuke. You're a man now" said Sora, slapping him on the back. _

_Sasuke punched him on the head. "What the hell was that for!?" _

_"My hand slipped" _

_Sora twitched and grabbed him by the front of his shirt "You picking a fight?!" _

_Sakura pushed them away from each other "Sasuke, do you have to start and argument with everyone we know?" said Sakura. "Hmph" _

_"Oh right, where's Naruto. I didn't see him around" said Sora. This reminded Sakura of the main reason why they were here. "Actually, Sora-kun. We're on a mission, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei are currently hospitalized so we were sent out without them" said Sakura, her tone seemingly got more depressed as she spoke. _

_"What a coincidence, I'm investigating something. Chiriku said there were a bunch of troublemaking shinobi killing ANBU and other shinobi" said Sora. "Then you're after the same guy we're hunting" said Sasuke. "No way!" _

The plan was to get Sakura through Orochimaru to hunt down Kabuto when he least expected it and Orochimaru was caught in Sasuke's genjutsu the moment he caught side of his sharingan in the darkness and Sakura was able to slip through his defense like she wasn't there at all, however Sasuke had to deactivate it because pushing it any further and Orochimaru was going to notice it. You can't underestimate someone who's been trying to get his hands on the Sharingan his whole life.

The plan worked out fine, except for the fact that Orochimaru had gotten away.

Sakura turned back to look at Kabuto only to find him gone. She ran to the hole in the wall, his chakra had completely vanished. Sasuke gritted his teeth "We lost them again" he said. They were so close. But something tells Sakura that they were being deceived, she figured she'll think about it later. For the moment she could move her other hand slightly, enough to restore Shura's fatigue and calm her heartbeats before they headed for the Fire temple.

It didn't take them more than half a day. Now with Sora carrying Shura and Sakura latched onto Sasuke's back they travelled twice as fast because of Sora and Sasuke's unspoken competition.

By the time they reached their destination both males were panting their souls out.

"I told you not to go that fast." said Sakura, pouting as she took Shura from Sora's back. Sasuke didn't answer, just glared at Sora. They seemed to be having a mental conflict with each other regarding who won the race. Sakura just sighed and brought Shura into the temple where they were greeted by the head ninja monk, Chiriku.

"I heard from the Hokage-sama that you were coming. Did you run into trouble? I didn't have the chance to warn you about the rogue shinobi around these areas" said Chiriku. "Oh them" Sakura gave a nervous laugh "We took care of that" she said with a smile. Chiriku raised an eyebrow "I see" his eyes trailed to Shura "And that must be our new member" he said, offering to take over but Sakura insisted on holding on to Shura. At least till they get to the room.

"I've already set up her room in the temple. You may rest there with her as well. Since you've been here before feel free to roam around for time being" he said, leading Sakura to Shura's new room. "Thank you"

For the next few days Sakura and Sasuke stayed over at the Fire temple after sending a kite back to the village, informing Tsunade of their safety. She would surely pass on the message to their teammates. Shura stuck closely to Sakura for the most of day one but after Chiriku introduced her to the other members of the temple, including Sora. Her child curiosity got the best of her and she began to explore on her own. Surprisingly the stoic faced girl adjusted quickly to Sora's loud and vulgar ways.

Sakura then decided that it was okay for them to leave. She gave Shura and pat on the head as she said goodbye. "I'll come visit you when I can" she said. Shura didn't say anything but nodded. She didn't seem as bothered about Sakura leaving as she would a few days ago. Now she just waved and watched as Sakura disappeared into the forest with Sasuke.

Along the way Sakura let out a heavy sigh, Sasuke glanced at her "What's wrong?" he asked. "I'm just thinking that the Uchiha Manor would be so lonely without Shura now" said Sakura. "I don't like kids." said Sasuke. Sakura halted in her tracks, standing still on a tree "E-Eh? Sasuke doesn't like kids" she said. Sasuke looked back at her "I hate them" he replied firmly before jumping off. Sakura looked down "O-Oh..." she fidgeted a little before catching up with Sasuke.

It didn't take them long to journey back to the village, they took up one and half days to travel back, resting every six hours. They were at the village gate by dawn, they approached the gate and strolled through, Izumo and Kotetsu who were standing on guard greeted them and told them that they weren't expected to arrive till the day after tomorrow.

They headed straight for the hokage's tower to do their report since Tsunade is not usually in the office till 9, they figured that they would finish off the report and leave it on her desk rather than wait till later. however they were surprised to see Shizune walking down the corridor and headed straight for Tsunade's office with her tea. "Shizune-senpai?" Sakura called out to her, snapping her out of her concentration on the teacup.

"Sakura, Sasuke-kun. You're back early" said Shizune. Sakura rubbed the back of her head meekly "It seems so, is Tsunade-sama in?" she asked. The dark haired woman nodded "She's just debriefing someone" she said, her eyes trailed to Sasuke who stood a little behind Sakura. "You can come in, I think she's almost done" said Shizune, knocking the door and opening it. "Tsunade-sama, there's someone who would like to see you" she said, holding the door for Sakura and Sasuke.

Sakura and Sasuke obliged, when they stepped in they were immediately greeted with the stares of the Hokage and a pair of onyx eyes. "Nii-san?" said Sasuke, eyes meeting his brother's. "Welcome back, Sasuke. Sakura" he said, greeting the two younger ones. "Well you two are early. Itachi, you may leave for now, You'll leave first thing tomorrow" said Tsunade. "Yes, Hokage-sama" Itachi gave a curt nod at Tsunade and turned, shoulder brushing with Sasuke as he passed. "I'll see you later, Sasuke" he mumbled quietly to Sasuke.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, well he was secretly glad that his brother wasn't going to leave till tomorrow morning but then again, not like it matter. They never hung out like normal siblings, unless you consider sparring to your deaths a sibling bonding event.

He smirked as he heard the door close. Sakura felt the mood lighten and bounded over towards the desk. For some reasons Tsunade seemed less enthusiastic, she was never really enthusiastic about her work but she wasn't as dead as seemed now. The look on her face told Sakura not to ask, so she just let it go for now. "I read your Intel about Orochimaru and his escape with Kabuto. Well done getting Shura to the Fire Temple safely" she said.

Sakura told Tsunade about the corpse shinobi and what it made Sasuke do, the Hokage looked genuinely disturbed and so did Sasuke, considering he was the one that attack and wounded Sakura, however his teammate never mentioned her more serious injuries, she merely stated that it was a 'few scratches and bruises' and refused to go into any deeper details. After she had finished her side of the story, there wasn't much Sasuke needed to explain except for the small things he noticed in Orochimaru's lab and the experience he felt when he was in a rampage.

Tsunade's brows furrowed as she listened "This may turn out to be more troublesome than expected, we will have to send a team out to hunt Orochimaru if he continues to pose as a potential threat to Konoha" said Tsunade, she sighed and looked up at Sasuke and Sakura "You may leave now, good work on the mission" the hokage said "And I'm glad you managed to return safely, rest well"

Sakura smiled at her mentor and bowed respectfully before leaving the office with Sasuke.

As they walked down the steps of the hokage tower, Sakura felt a familiar chakra waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs. "Ah!" she cried out all of the sudden. "I forgot I have to get to the hospital she gasped, alarming Sasuke a little. He sighed in relieve when it was nothing, he was about to offer to go with her to the hospital but she cut him off "Meet you back home in the evening, Sasuke" she said, leaping down the remaining stairs and running off, but not before greeting Itachi.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and wondered why was she rushing for, but immediately understood when he came face to face with his brother. The two Uchihas stared at each other with their equally stoic faces before Itachi smiled "What to take a walk with me, Sasuke?" he asked.

Sasuke snorted and just walked past him, not even bothering to reply as he knew his brother would understand- must be an Uchiha thing. The two boys strolled the streets of waking village, just focusing on the route in front of them. It seemed quite unusual for the both of them as usually they would end up breaking into a spar after the silence or they would continue to ignore each other.

"So how's your progress with Sakura" Itachi started. Sasuke snorted "Aren't we talkative today" said Sasuke. "Is it wrong to be wondering about your little brother's love life" chuckled Itachi. "That's an invasion of privacy" huffed Sasuke. "You don't have to be shy about it, Sasuke. You can tell your dear brother anything" said Itachi. Sasuke twitched "I don't have anything to tell you"

He glanced over at Itachi, his brother's face was a light smile, but something about it made you feel like you were being mocked. "And to think you used to run up to me and begged me to play with you, you've changed Sasuke" said Itachi feigning sadness. When Sasuke didn't flinch he smirked "I wonder how Sakura would react if she knew all your baby secrets, her view on you would definitely change" Itachi chuckled, almost darkly.

Sasuke froze and glared at his brother "Don't. you. dare" he said through his gritted teeth. "Oh? Are you perhaps, threatened by this? Are you not confident of your relationship with Sakura? That she'll leave you because your big brother decides to leak your little toddler secrets to your beloved?" mocked Itachi. Sasuke was quick in drawing his kusanagi, a normal shinobi wouldn't have seen it coming, but Itachi was far from normal and had already dodged before Sasuke managed to pull out his sword.

"Tsk, tsk. Temper Sasuke, temper" said Itachi, standing just outside Sasuke's kusanagi range. "Did you request to walk with me just to mock me to no end, nii-san" said Sasuke, sliding his blade back to its sheath and pushing it down with a loud _clank. _"Partially" said Itachi, walking towards Sasuke. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and they continued walking "Then what's the other part" said Sasuke, it was more of a demand than a question. "Just doing some catching up, have you realized that we've never actually hung out like siblings." said Itachi. Sasuke scoffed "That's cause you're always busy with your ANBU missions" said Sasuke. "Indeed" said Itachi, there was a pregnant pause before Itachi spoke again "Are you still a genin, Sasuke" Itachi asked all of the sudden.

"Yeah"

"Why don't you request for a promotion, I think we both know that your skills are well above that of a genin's" said Itachi. "I'm fine as I am, Tsunade acknowledges our team's skills so it doesn't matter" said Sasuke. "You're just fine with it because you're able to remain in the same team as Sakura" said Itachi. Sasuke smirked "Hn, maybe"

"How is it that you, a stoic, boring, crude and evil person managed to end up with such an innocent, kind hearted, and well-loved girl of the village" said Itachi. "Jealous?" Sasuke stated simply. Itachi chuckled.

"That mission" Sasuke began. "What kind of mission are you being sent on tomorrow" said Sasuke. "Oh, that" Itachi's voice had become evidently less enthusiastic. "It's a mission with Jiraiya-sama" said Itachi, but that was the only thing he was willing to disclose from the subject, Sasuke didn't push him about it ; it must've been a classified S-rank mission if it's with Jiraiya.

The next morning, Itachi was ready to leave the village all over again, but this time he felt like he didn't want to leave, he didn't want to leave Sasuke, or the village. He looked at the clock, it was 4:30 in the morning and he was already due to leave in another thirty minutes.

He met up with the white haired sannin at the gate and greeted him with a nod. "Couldn't sleep?" asked Jiraiya with a chuckled "Sorta" he said. Jiraiya chuckled again "Just stick with me kid, you're going to be fine" said Jiraiya. "Old men should stay home and read their books" mocked Itachi with a smirk. Jiraiya laughed "One day, I will" said Jiraiya, he glanced over at a nearby tree "I'll let you say your goodbyes"

Itachi's eyes traced Jiraiya's glance "Sasuke"

Sasuke was leaning against the tree on a branch, arms crossed and his expression was un-amused like always. "I'll kill you if you don't come back" said Sasuke. Itachi raised an eyebrow. "Worried for your big brother now are you?" said Itachi. "Tch, whatever"

Itachi was content, he set off with a new found confidence. He was going to come back, or else his dear little brother was going to kill him.

**Next Chapter **

"Are you worried?"

"I thought you told me you were going to be honest with him"

"Nine years"

"It would've been better if you two idiots killed each other"

"Men are such barbarians"

* * *

**yes I know that Chiriku was supposedly killed by Hidan and Kakuzu but I didn't want him dead D: If Asuma survived, so can he :D**

**I had great fun writing this chapter, especially the brotherly affection towards the end. Heeee~ Reviews are welcomed in any form of shape! And you might just get a cookie! MIGHT! REVIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK! **

**ALRIGHT SEE YOU GUYS NEXT CHAPTER **

**Sorry, I forgot to turn off the caps lock. XD**

**Oh right, before you go, just another question. **

**Which voice actor of the Naruto series has the sexiest voice?**


	15. Day Off

**Day Off**

Sasuke walked into the manor and sat down to take off his sandals. He had taken a 30 minute walk after he saw Itachi off; he constantly told himself that he wasn't worried about his brother; his brother is the captain of the 12th ANBU division for god's sake. He's been holding that title since he was 13. He didn't care what happened to that bastard anyway. He knows he's just lying to himself, but he'd rather die that admit it out loud.

He sat there for a moment, everything in the world seemed so quiet. "He left again?" Sasuke's body jerked up, head snapping around to look at Sakura, he assumed that she had just woken up as she was in what he presumed was her sleeping gown.

Sasuke got on his feet "Yeah..."

"Are you worried?"

"No" Sasuke replied a little too quickly, he refused to meet Sakura's eyes because those emerald eyes always made him feel transparent. He was planning to go back up the stairs to laze on the bed till breakfast in ready.

"Alright mister, breakfast will be ready in half an hour" she said, stealing a kiss from his cheek as she passed him to get to the kitchen, he smirked.

...

After breakfast, Sasuke found himself being dragged away from his training schedule by Sakura to take a walk around the village to stock up on their groceries as well as see if anyone they knew was in the village. She even told him she had something special planned for the end of the day. He didn't mind accompanying Sakura around for the whole day, but he wasn't very excited about catching up with the people they knew because that would mean-

"SAKURA YOU'RE BAAAACK !"

Both of them turned around only for Sakura to suddenly be tackled over my Ino, the pinkette stumbled backwards as her blonde friend crushed her in a bear hug. "It's nice to see you too, Ino" she smiled.

"Oh gosh it felt like ages since the last time I saw you? Have you grown thinner?" said Ino, pulling back from the hug to examine the smaller kunoichi with her hands on Sakura's biceps.

"It's been a week" said Sasuke, rolling his eyes.

"Says the guy that got to go on a partner mission with her" huffed Ino, she turned back to Sakura

"Oh, have you heard about Neji and Te-" the blond was cut off when the almost-said couple walked past them, completely in their own world with Tenten speaking the whole time, she walked with her hands behind her and her steps were light and giddy. Neji had a very, _very_ small smile on his face as the brunette talked.

Sasuke couldn't find anything wrong with that scene, but for some reasons he got an earful of Ino's squeals as she practically shook Sakura around. "They look so cute together" she said.

"When did this happen?" Sakura gasped, her mouth left gaped as she tried to follow the couple with her eyes.

"Just after you guys left for the mission" Ino said, mimicking Sakura. "Hinata told me that she heard it was Tenten that confessed first" The blonde said in a slightly distracted voice.

Sakura turned and looked at Ino with surprised eyes.

"Is that so? Wow" she breathed.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her fascination with her friend's love life.

"How about you and Shikamaru?" asked Sakura. Ino seemed shaken up upon the mention of her teammate's name.

"Oh, us? There was nothing going on in the first place" her tone sounded rather depressed yet annoyed at the same time.

"Did you guys get into another fight?" asked Sakura.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at Ino, the last time those two go into a fight, Sakura was dragged into a kidnapping with Ino.

"Well, sort of. Shikamaru's working on next year's chunin exams with Temari-san. Again" said Ino. There was something about the way she said Temari's name that gave away her jealousy.

"I thought you told me you were going to be honest with him" Sakura said in an accusing tone.

"I will!" Ino retorted "Just, not now"

Sakura caught a familiar chakra signature and smiled "Now's your chance, he's alone" she said, turning her best friend around and giving her a light push.

"W-wait!"

Ino stumbled into Shikamaru's path as the lazy genius raised an eyebrow at her then glanced over at Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke gave him an acknowledging look. The pink haired kunoichi gave a brief wave to Shikamaru as before she pulled Sasuke away.

"They're back early" said Shikamaru, approaching Ino.

Ino straightened and huffed "I doubt you'd even notice they were gone, you're always with Temari-san" Ino said in an annoyed tone; she crossed her arms and blew on her fringe.

"Geez, woman. What are you so upset about? We're just working as liaisons for the upcoming chunin exam for god's sake. We do it every 6 months" said Shikamaru.

"Who said I was upset!? I'm not upset! Especially not about you." huffed Ino.

Shikmaru raised an eyebrow "Anyway It's none of your business who I work with, Ino" said Shikamaru, he pushed past Ino and the next thing he knew, he was kicked to the floor by the blonde.

"None of my business?! It's definitely my business! Temari-san is a woman too you know!"

Shikamaru winced as he turned over on the floor and sat up. He looked up at his teammate, not sure whether he should take part in this squabble with Ino. They always fight, but it always starts with Ino's temper; some of their topics didn't even make any sense; that girl's temper is _way_ too troublesome for him to handle.

"Ino, I _work_ with her; in fact why do you care, you're always nagging me for no reasons." snapped Shikamaru, he got up and his height immediately towered over her.

Ino's blue eyes seemed to water as her brows furrowed, looking dissatisfied. "I'm just-" she cut herself short then down casted her gaze—she sighed.

"Is it wrong for me to feel jealous of other girls?" her voice cracked as she struggled to compose herself. "You're smart, Shikamaru. So why haven't you figured it out" she added quietly. She sniffled and then lifted her head, her eyebrows arched and her eyes glimmering with tears "I want your attention, Shikamaru—all of it" she didn't care that she sounded pathetic; she didn't care that her voice wavered in her confession; she didn't care if he just turned away from her and left her.

But before she could be rejected, she decided that she would run.

Spinning on her heels, she was prepared to leap onto the rooftops but she felt herself being tugged right back around before being pressed against a warm and firm body. Ino panicked, they were childhood friends; of course he wouldn't reject her bluntly because no matter what Shikamaru said, he cared for her just like he cared for Chouji and she knew that.

She struggled to break free "Let. go" she said, squirming against his hold. She didn't want to hear what he had to say. Anything he was going to say now would be done out of guilt and pity and she wanted to hear none of it. She just wanted to run as far away from him as possible.

She found herself sobbing out as she fought his hold.

Shikamaru held her head in place against his chest as he breathed his words into her hair. "Just listen"

The whole world fell silent and it was only the two of them. She could hear it, the rapid pounding of Shikamaru's heart; she could feel his chest rise and fall at an abnormally quick rate— He was nervous.

She gasped slightly when she felt the rumble of his chest against the side of her face when he spoke abruptly. "It's troublesome, so don't make me say it again" there was a pause and Ino had to stop herself from demanding him to say something; the anxiety was too much for her to handle. "I love you"

Ino's eyes widened, she didn't expect him to say it so suddenly. Normally guys would be second to the girl terms of displaying affection. Not to mention that those three words were not something to be thrown around with such ease.

"I didn't say anything because you've always had eyes on Sasuke" he breathed in her scent "I thought you might still have feelings for him, but yes. I've had a crush on you since the academy" Shikamaru confessed in a slightly shamed tone.

Well this was awkward.

For so long she had been so selfishly using him as a stress ball for her little crush on Sasuke and he didn't say anything at all. It turns out that he was always listening to her, even though he pretends not to be interested.

And now when she has realized her feelings for him, she takes it out on him for not realizing her feelings when it was her that didn't realize his . Ino buried her face in his chest, hugging his torso closer to her and murmured "I'm sorry…. I'm sorry"

Sakura and Sasuke was spying on them the whole time, masking their chakra and laying low. "Mm…. looks like everything's fine now" said Sakura, staring at the couple as if they were the subject to a very interesting documentary.

"Annoying couple" Sasuke grumbled.

"I think they match" said Sakura. Sasuke rolled his eyes, Sakura suddenly straightened and looked around "Naruto's close by" she lunged for her boyfriend's hand and dragged him off in a random direction. Sasuke groaned.

As they drew closer to the blonde, Sakura noticed a disturbance in his chakra. He definitely wasn't alone, he was in a fight and it was intense.

"What is that idiot doing" said Sasuke having taken noticed too. They both picked up their pace and skidded to a stop at the edge of the building to find Naruto on the rooftop in front of them, going all out with his attacks—with Neji.

"Geez Neji, I was just holding her hand!"

"With daring actions come responsibility, and you've just seal your fate when you decided to take a romantic step towards Hinata-sama in front of me" snarled Neji, he thrusted a palm at Naruto's face which the blond manages to dodge by an inch by tilting his head to the side.

"I don't even get what you're talking about!" Naruto shouted as he leaped back, making distance between himself and the Hyuga.

Neji persisted; thrusting blows continuously at his head and all were aimed to take out his head. "N-Neji nii-san! Naruto-kun i-isn't the one at fault!" Hinata cried helplessly from the sidelines as she stood next to Tenten who made no move to stop her new boyfriend from slaying Naruto.

"Just let them be, one of them is going to die sooner or later" said Tenten with a sinister smirk.

Hinata whipped her head in Tenten's direction, looking absolutely appalled "T-Tenten-san!" she scolded.

Naruto took a step back but Neji hook his leg and swiped his out of balance. As the blonde was struggling to regain his balance Neji landed a hard blow on his chest and sent him flying backwards. As soon as he collided with the wall behind him, he exploded into smoke. Neji's byakugan eyes widened and he looked around for Naruto.

He found his opponent standing bolding on top of the water tank, holding a rasengan. "Why do you have to be so uptight all the time!?" he yelled, starting to sound very annoyed. Neji faced him and widened his legs taking on the jyuken stance. They all know that stance he was going to trap Naruto in the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms technique once the blond comes after him with his rasengan.

Naruto scowled at him, Neji wasn't going to answer. Instead he was going to wait for his move and that was precisely what he was going to give him. Naruto leapt of the water tank and landed on his feet directly in front of Neji, he pulled his hand back and got ready to thrust it at Neji. The Hyuga himself moved, everything seemed to have happened in slow motion when Neji's palm was directed off by another and Naruto's rasengan was stopped when a metal chain shot out and entangled his wrist before pulling him out of Neji's way.

"Hey! What's the big deal!?" he yelled, his rasengan dispersed when he shifted his attention to untangle the chains from his wrist. "Hinata talked me into this" said Tenten. Hinata was panting her palm was inches away from Neji's wrist that had been knocked out of the way by Hinata's jyuken.

"Hinata-sama..."

"You will stop this foolishness at once, Neji nii-san!" she scolded. Never had they heard her so fearless; even Neji was shocked. "Am I not allowed to have a romantic relationship a man? You act just like otou-sama sometimes" she huffed.

"I was just worried for your-"

Hinata cut him off "Then you needn't worry about me. I'm not a child, Neji nii-san" said Hinata.

Neji looked down, feeling just slightly guilty for trying to kill Naruto. "I understand, I'm sorry" he nodded his head in a slight bow. A slight tint of red coat Tenten's cheeks when she saw this new side of Neji as the weapons mistress refrained from grinning from ear to ear.

Hinata's face turned red in realization and she played with her fingers "I-I apologize for speaking so rudely t-to you as well... N-Neji nii-san" stammered Hinata.

"He must mean a lot to you if you raised you voice at me for him" said Neji.

"I-I-I'm terribly sorry!"

Neji snorted and looked over at Naruto, who looked unsure whether to approach them or not. "You break her heart and I'll break your face" he threatened Naruto. The blonde swallowed and nodded, because he knew Neji meant every word.

"Looks like we didn't need to do anything after all" said Sakura, as they landed onto the rooftop.

"Sakura-chan! Teme!" Naruto announced.

"How long have you been there" said Tenten, resealing her chain into the scroll.

"Long enough to see everything" Neji answered grumpily for them.

"It would've been better if you two idiots killed each other though" said Sasuke.

Neji scoffed. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING IDIOTS!?" snapped Naruto

"You seem to have a death wish" said Neji, he looked over at Sasuke, and his eyes narrowed "Uchiha"

"Are you going to try and grant it?" challenged Sasuke with an eyebrow raised.

There are two absolute laws of the world.

First: Calling Chouji fat is a big taboo

Second-

A genius calling another genius an 'Idiot' would mean war.

"Genin" snarled Neji.

"Manservant"

Hell broke loose.

They were fast. Real fast. If it weren't for their trained eyes, the others wouldn't have known what was going on. Just sparks and flashes sparking around the area. "S-Scary..." Hinata said nervously. Tenten sighed "There's no stopping them now" said Tenten. "Sasuke... He's always picking fights" Sakura sighed; she walked over to stand with the girls.

Naruto looked back and forth between the girls and the guys and misinterpreted it as admiration for Sasuke and Neji. Not wanting to lose to them he was going to try and slot himself between them. "Yosh"

Well at least he tried.

"N-Naruto-kun!" squeaked Hinata, running to the blonde who was blown off like a leaf in a thunderstorm.

Naruto pushed himself up "Damn bastards" he cursed under his breath.

"A-Are you okay?" asked Hinata.

Naruto gave her a reassuring smile "Never better"

Annoyance crept from the back for Sakura's mind, why must Sasuke pick fights with anyone and everyone who gets on his bad side. She wouldn't have minded it so much if he picked a fight with someone that wasn't their friend. "Tenten" Sakura sounded so mature and commanding at that moment that Tenten had no choice but to give the pink-haired kunoichi her full attention.

Sasuke crossed weapons with Neji, his sharingan glaring into his opponent's byakugan. Then they both noticed something between their feet—a smoke bomb. It exploded abruptly. Sasuke panicked slightly before he felt a family pair of hands grab his arm, but what he didn't expect was for them to twist his arm around his back and pressing it against his own back and another small finger pressed down on his pressure point on his shoulder blade and immobilized his other arm. He was then forced to kneel on one knee when she kicked the back of his knee.

"Enough is enough"

Oh damn, she sounded pissed.

The smoke cleared and Neji was in a similar position, except he was on both knees and he was bound by chains.

"You're being very immature, Sasuke."

"Same goes for you, Neji"

Sasuke growled at his helplessness and it seemed like Neji wasn't liking this anymore than he was.

"I'm going to release you now, Sasuke. Don't do anything stupid" she warned him then smiled when she heard him grumble. At the same time, Sakura and Tenten unbound their partners and watched in amusement as they straightened themselves out then proceeded to act like nothing happened.

_'Women are demons'-_

That was one thing the two could agree on.

"AH! HOW DARE YOU END THE FIGHT WITHOUT BEING STOMPED ON BY ME!" roared Naruto.

"Says the dope that couldn't even stop us" Sasuke deadpanned

"The hopeless should just remain silent" said Neji.

"You guys are such bastards!" Naruto shouted.

Tenten and Sakura smiled at each other "Well at least we managed to get them apart" said Sakura. Tenten nodded with agreement. "We should get going, Sasuke and I still have to continue our honeymoon" beamed Sakura. Everyone turned red "H-Honey moon?!" choked Sasuke.

"AH! HOW COME I WASN'T INVITED TO YOUR WEDDING, TEME!"

"When did this happen?!" demanded Tenten.

"S-Sakura... what is your definition of 'Honeymoon'" said Sasuke, Sakura was famous for misunderstandings mainly because of her lack of interaction with the real world as a child and she had to catch up with books and sometimes books can be very misleading if not specific.

"Ino told me that if a couple goes somewhere together, it's called a honeymoon" said Sakura looking down and playing with her fingers in a very Hinata-like manner. Everyone sighed. Sasuke was going to have to smack some sense into Ino and tell her that if she wants to teach Sakura things, she needs to do it in detail.

"Listen, Sakura. Honeymoons are what _married_ couples do." Tenten said, she herself felt embarrassed to correct Sakura "Right now, it's more of a date" she added.

"Oh... so this is a date?" said Sakura.

"No, this is how friends spend time together" said Sasuke.

"But we're boyfriend and girlfriend, so doesn't it count as a date" said Sakura. Sasuke opened his mouth to say something before he cut himself off.

The Hyuga male chuckled and Sasuke shot him a glare. "Didn't you say you wanted to go somewhere, Sakura" sighed Sasuke. "Ah, right. I'll see you guys later then" she waved off and jumped down from the rooftop, followed by Sasuke.

After changing direction a few times, it became apparent to Sasuke where Sakura was taking him. Soon he found himself standing in the middle of their usual training ground.

Sakura looked up at the side to try and determine the time, she thought for a moment "We have 3 hours before sunset" she said.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her "And? You dragged me around the village for the whole day, don't tell me you've run out of things to do"

Sakura pouted "So what if I did?" said Sakura.

"You sounded pretty confident of your schedule when you dragged me out of training this morning" said Sasuke, looking at her smugly.

"I still am!" Sakura retorted.

Sasuke snorted "Right"

Sakura elbowed him "Then what do you propose we do, Sasuke" she said, returning his smug look.

"Really? Now you ask me." said Sasuke he turned to the side and faced her as Sakura did the same, he took one step towards her, a smirk plastered on his face. Sakura had a very unsure feeling about what he was trying to do, she instinctively took a step back to avoid contact with him.

One step after the other, Sasuke persisted.

"Are we playing a game, Sasuke?" asked Sakura, finally after Sasuke indirectly pushed her into the forest. Sasuke didn't answer. Sakura backed up, stumbling a little before her back came into contact with something rough and flaky. A tree.

She was pinned.

Sakura glanced back at the tree before feeling it up behind her, pushing herself against it and eyes watching in horror as Sasuke came closer and closer. She swallowed when she had to look up to meet his eyes. He placed a forearm above her and leaned his head down to look at her, their nose just inches away from either other. Sakura stared up at him with large emerald eyes that held no clue of his intentions.

But then again- what are his intentions.

"Spar with me"

"Eh?"

"About what happened back at the border with Orochimaru, you'll need to know my weaknesses if that ever happens again" he said.

Sakura broke her gaze and looked away from him. "That's not necessary" she sounded cold.

"Sakura-" he was cut off when Sakura looked up at him with a burning gaze

"Sasuke, I'm not going to let that happen again" she snapped.

"Sakura, we don't know what's going to happen. Next time you might not be so lucky" Sasuke retorted, he sounded like he was pleading.

In his eyes, Sakura saw pain. Regret. Frustration.

Her brows furrowed slightly and she blinked a few times "Please, Sakura."

Finally she let out a breath "Alright" she looked away then back at him "But only because you asked nicely" she beamed childishly at him.

Sasuke smirked and pushed off the tree. "Sasuke. Do you really think I'm incapable of taking care of myself?" said Sakura. Sasuke raised an eyebrow "Not against me you can't"

Sakura withdrew, well he was partially right. She may have the capability to control chakra like it's her own hand and devise an antidote for a toxin on the spot, however if her skills and stamina were compared to her teammates, she would be falling behind.

"I'll show you all my weak points" said Sasuke.

Sakura looked surprised "Oh? I was beginning to think you didn't have any" said Sakura. Sasuke smirked as he found that extremely amusing and ironic considering his biggest weakness was her.

They stepped out from the forest and face each other. Out of nowhere he pulled his kusanagi on her. Sakura had no trouble with that and stopped his blade completely with a kunai. "Once you've locked blades with me, do _not_ look into my eyes. I _will_ activate my sharingan" said Sasuke. Sakura looked up instinctively "Sakura, what did I just tell you?" said Sasuke.

Sakura smiled "Oh I'm sorry Sasuke, It's just that- You have beautiful eyes" she blinked at him. Sasuke blinked, eyes looking away nervously. But then he shook it off "Focus, Sakura" he told her and she beamed as he pushed her back, she jumped back a few feet and then lunged at him again.

He disappeared by the time Sakura had thought she slashed her kunai across him. She ducked to dodge a swing of his kusanagi from behind, he slashed downwards and she tumbled forward. Rolling back onto her feet she threw a few shurikens at him. He easily swiped them off with his kusanagi.

"Throw in a vertical manner, you'll be able to gain a few milliseconds stall" said Sasuke, he shot at her. Sakura formed a few seals "Katon, Housenka no jutsu (Fire Technique, Phoenix Flower Technique)"

"Aim for my left shoulder"

And so she did, he instinctively turned 45 degrees to avoid a scorching fireball. He strayed from his path towards her and went for her left side. Sakura shattered the ground beneath him like a rug. Sasuke jumped off the moving ground before he was swallowed. "Stick with long range attacks, preferably Fuuton" said Sasuke, he let his kusanagi slip back into its sheath before he immediately pulled a Chidori out of nowhere and shot for Sakura. "Fuuton, Kaze Bakufu (Wind Technique, Wind Blast)"

Sasuke was thrown backwards and he blasted into the forest on the other side of the field, if it hadn't been for his Chidori streams attaching themselves to the trees and acting like a cob web to stop him, he would've been blasting through tree after tree.

He cut off his chidori just in time to dodge an incoming reign of sharp dirt spears from Sakura. Sasuke activated his sharingan where he sensed Sakura's chakra nearby. "Go for my feet, I tend to neglect the possibilities of an attack from the ground" said Sasuke.

Sakura put his words to test immediately "Doton, Hachi Josho Doryu (Earth Technique, Eight Rising Earth Dragons)"

The ground around Sasuke rose and struck down at him, he tumbled forward to avoid being impaled. Sakura was waiting for him as soon as he got on his feet. She swung a punch at him, which he barely managed to dodge, however the next thing she knew. There was a knife pressed onto her neck.

"I told you to stick with long range" said Sasuke. "Watch your back" said Sakura and then she turned into water.

"Water Clone" mumbled Sasuke and rolled his eyes as if he was before he spun around rapidly, the flames in the shape of a dragon engulfed him. Sakura was about to stop her technique when she was caught off guard when wires shot out from her own flames and entangled themselves around her. Binding her down to her legs and her hands pressed to her chest. If she struggled, the wires would cut through her skin.

The flames subsided and Sasuke walked out without so much as a speck of scorch mark on him. His fingers entangled with wires that held Sakura's freedom. "Don't ever use Fire Techniques against me, that's the worst possible attack you could throw at an Uchiha" said Sasuke.

Sakura smiled sheepishly "Heheh"

"So what are you going to do now, bound up like that" said Sasuke, looking at her from a few feet away.

Sakura shrugged "I don't know, what do you want to do?" she said seductively.

Sasuke sighed "This is serious, Sakura." he pressed his sword to her chest "If I really lose control I want you to kill me" said Sasuke.

Sakura frowned.

"Promise me that you will" said Sasuke, his gaze boring into her. Sakura smiled just slightly "I trust you to come back to me" she breathed. Sasuke looked away from her then sheathed his sword and released her from his wires.

"Well that was- fun" said Sakura, she looked up. Just in time too. She grabbed Sasuke by his arm and took off.

He was wondering what was Sakura's plan for them at dusk, he prepared himself for all sorts of things but never would he have imagined standing in front of the grave of Sakura's parents. "Mother, Father. This is Sasuke, Mikoto-san's son" she beamed as she crouched down to the tombstone's level.

Slowly, Sasuke knelt down as well. "Sasuke's a very special person to me, sorry I didn't tell you before. I figured it'd be better that you guys meet each other" said Sakura. At that point, Sasuke didn't know what to do or say. Sakura nodded and smiled "Yes mother, he is very handsome isn't he"

Sasuke swallowed and bit down on his lip. She's talking to her parents as if they are really there, something he could never do. Because every time he visits his parent's grave, a wave of loneliness rushes over him. Their death anniversaries were always a depressing day, the two Uchiha siblings would visit their parents in different times of the day but never together.

Now he understood why they could never properly visit their parent's grave. He was afraid.

He was afraid that he would cry, afraid that he wasn't worthy to face them. Most of all he was afraid of rejection from his parents—he was a coward.

There was a pause before Sakura chuckled sheepishly "It seems that's all I've got to tell you, I'm sorry I-" Sakura was cut off my Sasuke.

"I'll take care of her, don't worry" he said in a reassuring voice. Sakura looked at him in surprise then her face lightened and she smiled

They stood up and prepared to leave when something caught Sasuke's eye. It was no wonder this area felt really familiar.

Sakura traced his gaze to the two tombstones in front of Sakura's parent's.

_Uchiha Mikoto_

_Uchiha Fugaku_

What a coincidence.

The couple stepped over to the tombstones

"Sasuke's parents" Sakura muttered.

A smirk crept up onto Sasuke's face and he snorted, running hand through his hair. "It's been awhile" he said. Sakura looked at him, he wasn't talking to her but his parents. "This is Sakura" he paused for a moment, his eyes looking away "My girlfriend" he mumbled. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly "Sorry we don't come often"

"Nii-san's on a mission now, we'll come visit you guys soon. Together" he paused for a while, thinking up on what to say but could come up with nothing he turned "See ya" he said then walked away. Sakura stood still for a moment, still not sure about what just happened untill Sasuke pulled her back with a call of her name. She looked back at Sasuke who was waiting for her a few feet away. She bowed at the tombstones and smiled "It was nice to finally be able to meet Sasuke's parents" she said before she went and chase after Sasuke-

Then tackling his back for a piggyback ride back home.

**Next Chapter **

"He's dying"

"Yeah I noticed it too. I can't find what's disturbing the flow either"

"You guys were going to visit your parents... together"

"He still needs you"

"Thanks, Hinata"

* * *

Yes, I know it's been a really long time. Don't kill me, I'm renovating the prequel for this story and there may be a few minor changes made. Do take a look at it though. I'll see you guys soon, hopefully.

For those who do not know where the prequel is, I changed the title of the prequel from **'A Different Story'** to **'Red Thread'** It's in my profile! Sorry for those of you who couldn't find it, it's currently undergoing revision, hence why it's still incomplete. Sorry for the inconvenience!


	16. Trouble

**Trouble**

In Amegakure, the sound of rain ripples through a massive tower structure and the footsteps of shinobi wearing the amegakure hitai-ate. His eyes darted around the area cautiously before a figure out of paper was created in front of him, his eyes widened as the paper wrapped around him. Engulfing him completely.

The figure of a woman whose legs has yet to be formed appeared, she raised a hand of paper and a spear formed, the spear launched itself at the mummified shinobi before his shadow lifted from the group and launched a fireball at the woman, making her retreat a few steps back.

The man was freed and he fell to his knees, gasping for air. His shadow got on his feet and materialized into a man with spiky white hair and a lethal looking ponytail. "So it was you after all, Konan" said Jiraiya.

The woman whom Jiraiya called Konan nodded her head "Jiraiya-sensei" she greeted.

Back in Konoha

It's been almost a month since Itachi and Jiraiya left for their mission and Sasuke is forced to hone his skills with Naruto. "Rasengan!"

Naruto launched himself like a rocket at Sasuke, who flipped backwards to avoid contact. Naruto's attack was directed to the ground, creating a massive crater. Amidst the smoke, Naruto coughed and swatted his hand to try and blow away some of the smoke before his eyes widened and he ducked his head slightly and lifted a hand up to catch Sasuke's fist.

He pulled back on the raven and flung him off then leaping after him. Sasuke threw a series of shuriken at the incoming Naruto which was knocked off by the blonde's kunai. Sasuke pulled his body back and flipped, landed on a hand, throwing a raid of kunais at Naruto's feet that just landed with his free hand before pushing back up with his other hand and flipping over once again.

Naruto manages to maneuver away from the kunai and summon his clones "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu"

Sasuke watched as a whole army of Narutos surrounded him. He grabbed his kusanagi and activated his sharingan when they all charged at him at once. First he took out ones in the front with a swing of his kusanagi "Chidori Senbon!"

Amegakure...

Jiraiya and Itachi stood limply on their feet, panting as they were surrounded by five different Pain, all had orange hair and the Rinnegan. Itachi winced an eye, he wiped the blood that roll down his cheek from his eye. "It's okay, Itachi. You can turn off your Mangekyou" said Jiraiya. Itachi chuckled "After all that we've only managed to take out one of them, I don't think we can let up yet. Jiraiya-sama" he said.

"Whether you give in or not does not make a difference, you both are going to die here" said the Deva path, he jumped and Jiraiya's eyes widened, he pushed Itachi out of the way and plunged the biggest rasengan he could muster upwards, meeting the palm of the Deva path. Every bit of earth had been blown away, leaving only the water underneath. The Asura path leapt at Jiraiya, ready to plunge a spear through him as his other part kept him busy.

However he was intercepted by Itachi as the latter slammed down on him with Susanoo's sword of Totsuka. The Asura path backed down only to come back with a raid of saws shooting at Itachi who was standing in Susanoo, controlling it.

With a simple swing, Itachi managed to destroy most machinery parts of the Asura path, Itachi's vision throbbed and he struggled to maintain the Susanoo, the Animal path summoned a multi headed demon dog, it charged and rammed into the back of the Susanoo, causing Itachi to jerk forward in surprise, he panted before swinging around to bring around Susanoo's sword when he stopped dead in its track as two of the demon dog's head had bitten into Susanoo's forearm.

Itachi struggled, despite his blurred vision he spotted the Asura path launching a load of missiles at him, he lifted his elbow to bring down Susanoo's shield, the Yata Mirror. The shield successfully blocked the missiles from going through. However he was at a loss when the Preta path caught him off guard and his palms came in contact with Susanoo's ribcage and he begins to absorb it.

Susanoo began to fade and the Asura path launched another attack, a long saw like tail launched at the Susanoo's chest aiming straight at Itachi, and this time. It got through.

Itachi had a 5 millimeter thick saw plate stuck in his abdomen. He grunted in pain as the Asura path lifted him with the saw tail and threw him off like a toy. His back was slammed against the wall, leaving a trail of blood on the wall. Jiraiya cried out and Itachi opened his eyes, struggling to get back on his feet, except he couldn't.

One of the paths had pinned him to the wall like a butterfly with chakra rods. Stabbing through his shoulders. Jiraiya and Fukasaku were crushed on a piece of ground, Jiraiya was already unable to move, his fingers twitched and then his eyes widened.

Five rods stuck through his back disabled his movement and soon enough, his heart was just going to stop beating. His empty eyes looked up to meet Itachi's, the men had their moment of telepathic communication and Itachi's body went limp. They had both found out something that was relevant information to fight Pain, now they just needed to get the message to Konoha. The Sannin tried to inform Fukasaku in words but he realizes that his throat had been crushed. Jiraiya's fingers twitched then his hand, it took awhile before his arm was able to move. He lifted a shaking finger towards Fukasaku, the elderly toad got what he meant and immediately relieved himself from his cloak and allowed the Sannin to convey the message through him.

Jiraiya lit his finger with destructive chakra and began to write on the toad's back. The elderly toad held himself back from squirming as the pain rang throughout his small body.

Soon enough, the remaining five paths realized that they had unfinished business and immediately turned back. The Asura path lifted his arm as he jumped down, six missiles were fired at Jiraiya who's hand had just ceased moving. Fukasaku prepared to unsummon himself when his head snapped around, eyes widened at the incoming missiles.

Someone shot out and snatched him away from the fire blast faster than the missiles could move. The earth platform on the water was destroyed and so was most of Jiraiya's sinking body. Air bubbles left his mouth the side of his lips twitched into a smile.

_The true measure of a shinobi is not how he lives but how he dies. It's not what they do in life, but what they did before dying that proves their worth. Thinking back of it, my story is one full of failures. Tsunade rejected me every time. I couldn't save my friend, I failed to protect my student… and my teacher. Compared with the Hokages who came before me, my accomplishments have all been petty and insignificant. I wanted to die like them…_

_There, that ending… was a little better. The frog at the bottom of the well drifts off into the great ocean. Heh heh… yup… pretty damn honourable… pretty damn honourable… I guess it's time to put down my pen. Right… I need a title for the next book… let's see… Ah, got it… "The Tale of Naruto Uzumaki"… perfect._

_Heh... I'm cool aren't I, Tsunade. I bet you regret rejecting me all these years... Naruto, I'm sorry I wasn't able to see you become Hokage. I'm happy to have been your mentor and I know you'll do me proud._

_You be good now... Naruto._

...

Naruto stumbled and his rasengan missed Sasuke by a long shot, Sasuke immediately swung a kick which collided with the blonde's stomach. "What are you day dreaming at, Idiot" said Sasuke, approaching Naruto's fallen figure. Naruto got up and rubbed the back of his head, wincing. "Geez, can't you pull your kicks a little, Sasuke." said Naruto. Sasuke raised an eyebrow "I already did" said Sasuke. Naruto gave him a look and then narrowed his eyes "Now you're just showing off" said Naruto.

"You just don't want to admit that you got your ass kicked by a half-ass kick" said Sasuke. "You'll be licking my shoes when I'm done with you!" snapped Naruto, both guys drew their kunai, ready to kill the other when Hinata appeared, running towards them. "N-Naruto-kun! Sasuke-k-kun!" she stammered, half panting. "I-Itachi-san just came back from his mission" said Hinata.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other then back at Hinata "So?" they said in unison. Hinata's face fell and she swallowed "He's dying"

Sasuke felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on him, every muscle in his body ceased to move. Not even capable of a twitch. "Where's ero-sennin?" said Naruto. Hinata shook her head "I only saw Itachi-san and Fukasaku-sama"

"Let's go" said Naruto, Hinata nodded and they started off towards the village, after a few steps Naruto looked back to see Sasuke still frozen on the spot. "Sasuke!" he yelled and snapped the raven-head out of his thought, He turned his head to look at Naruto. "Let's go"

When they reached the hospital, they found Kakashi, Shino and Kiba standing outside the emergency room, apparently squadron 8 had just returned from a mission with Kakashi as their jounin supervisor when they stumbled into Fukasaku and Itachi at the entrance of Konoha.

They arrived but no one said a word. Kakashi's eye immediately fell on Sasuke and before he could speak, he cut him off "Sakura and Tsunade-sama are doing everything they can" basically he just answered the question that Sasuke didn't dare to ask.

Inside the operation room, it was chaos. There were a total of three nurses running around, sterilizing equipment and bringing in fresh water. Even with both Tsunade and Sakura performing a full body restoration on Itachi, they were losing him. for some reasons their chakra couldn't be channeled into Itachi properly.

"Tsunade-sama-" Sakura was cut off by Tsunade "Yeah, I noticed it too. I can't find what's disturbing the flow either" said Tsunade. "If we can find it then I can save him with my Pure Resurrection Technique." said Sakura. "We just have to do what we can to stop his pulse from dropping" said Tsunade.

The monitor beeped and flashed urgently, Tsunade's head snapped toward it before cursing under her breath. "Sakura! Chakra Defibrillation now!" the older medic shouted. Sakura's eyes glanced at the monitor and she quickly moved her hands to Itachi's chest, building up chakra in her palms then pressing down all at once.

"Don't die now, Itachi-san" she muttered, pressing down again. Itachi's body jerked. "Another transfusion!" Tsunade shouted. Sakura bit down on her lip and she pumped even harder "Don't give up, Sasuke's waiting for you" Sakura breathed helplessly.

"He still needs you" she said, her fingers were beginning to tremble. It was then she noticed that the only wound that wasn't closing was his left shoulder would that had been punctured by a large rod. Sakura took a pair of forceps and began to inspect the wound under deeper observation, she realized that there was a small shard the size of a bullet still lodged in the wound, she suspected that it was the cause of the chakra disturbance.

"Sakura! What are you doing!" Tsunade yelled at her. Sakura inspected the piece of black material "I found it, it was a piece of chakra rod" said Sakura, she practically threw aside the tray holding the forceps and the chakra rod shard.

Just when she had placed her hand back on Itachi's chest. The beep went monotone, Tsunade's eyes widened "Shit" Sakura grasped herself back and released her kaiho, the a whirlwind started in the room, the nurses flinched, one of them dropped the tray she was holding. Tsunade blocked her face with a blood stained hand, she took a look at Sakura.

She was too stressed, the technique wasn't going to work. Her chakra levels were dangerously low. Too low to complete the technique. "Sakura! Don't do it, your chakra levels are too low!" Tsunade yelled.

Sakura didn't give in, Tsunade knew it was useless to convince her. She was her student after all. She stepped up to Itachi's cold body and placed her hand on top of Sakura's. Even with Tsunade's help, Sakura wasn't able to complete the technique, Itachi's body was at a limit. Sakura couldn't push anymore chakra into his body or else it would kill him for real.

Sakura's hands trembled as she stood like a statue looking over Itachi's body. Eyes widened and her chest heaving, his body heat was gone.

His body wounds have all closed up, all that's left were the scars. Sakura's eyes glimmered with tears that clung on her eyes "Please... come back"

Tsunade looked at Sakura with sympathy, her eyebrows furrowed with disappointment as she was present when he died. The pink haired medic dropped to her knees as she placed her forehead on her hands that clung onto the side of the operation table and sobbed _"You guys were going to visit your parents... together" _

_How was she going to face Sasuke now?_

Sakura suddenly felt warmth from Itachi's body and the color returned to his face. She looked at the monitor, it was jammed. One of the nurses had spilled a tray of sterilizing water onto the wires. Sakura had to check his pulse manually to confirm that he was alive. "H-He has a pulse" she stammered.

Tsunade let out a sigh of relief as a smile was plastered on her face. The nurses eyes lit up from the news. Tsunade placed her hand above Itachi's head, green chakra glowing for a few moments before she removed it "He's in a coma, but he'll live" she said.

Sakura wasn't sure if Sasuke was going to be okay with the result, which brought her back to her previous worry. Was he going to snap at her for failing to bring back his brother completely?

Tsunade moved to the door and slid it open, revealing the eager eyes of their fellow shinobi. There was a pause where no one dared to say anything. "He lives"

The wave of relief hit them hard as tensed shoulders drooped and eager eyes were replaced with twinkling eyes. Sasuke felt like he had lost 5 years of his life, when his brother wakes up. He was going to beat the shit out of him.

He noticed that Sakura wasn't coming out, was she okay? He looked over at Tsunade and she didn't seem that happy either. "Where's Sakura" he spoke. Tsunade met his eyes "She's cleaning up" she said. "I'm here" said a breathless voice.

Tsunade turned back to look at her student then stepped aside. Sakura looked heavy, her hands were stained with Itachi's dried up blood. The light in her eyes faded and her body fell "I'm sorry... Sasuke"

Sasuke's eyes widened, his body moved on his own. Just barely managing to catch Sakura, panicking again. He looked at Tsunade with frantic eyes. Tsunade checked Sakura's pulse and breathing "She's alright, just exhausted" she said. There was a soft groan, Sasuke looked down at Sakura as she buried her face into his chest "I'm sorry..." she muttered again.

"Why are you apologizing for...?"

Tsunade cut in "Uchiha Itachi's life is stable, but he's under a coma that requires him to be living under life support permanently until further notice"

"Isn't there something you can do for him? Inject him with something?" asked Naruto. "It's not that simple, Naruto. When the time comes, he'll wake up on his own. But that could be years from now" said Tsunade.

Kakashi placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "You should bring her to an empty ward, we'll continue this conversation later" he said. Sasuke nodded and brought a hand under Sakura's knee and lifted her. Tsunade showed him to an empty ward, she went to wash up her hands as she left Sakura with Sasuke.

Sasuke filled a basin with water and dipped a cloth in, he lifted one of her hands and began to wipe her delicate fingers clean. Her hands were so small in his, he smirked then lifted her hand to his lips and placing a kiss on her knuckles. "Thank you" he mumbled into her hand.

He put her hand back down next to her and brought the basin to the sink, pouring away the diluted water then stepping out of the room where Kakashi, Naruto and Tsunade were standing outside. They looked at him with expectant eyes "She's asleep now"

Sasuke looked at Tsunade "Where was my brother assigned to" his voice was demanding and his eyes were fierce. "And where's ero-sennin" asked Naruto. Tsunade let out a breath "Jiraiya and Itachi were assigned to infiltrate Amegakure as Jiraiya claimed he had discovered the Akatsuki leader's whereabouts so I assigned Uchiha Itachi to accompany him" said Tsunade.

"A-Akatsuki's leader...?!" stammered Naruto. "Then that means Jiraiya-sama is-" Kakashi cut himself short. "I'm afraid I can't tell you what happened in there, but he can" Tsunade looked over her shoulder and Fukasaku jumped out from nowhere.

The elderly frog looked around, familiarizing himself with everyone's faces. "At first Jiraiya-chan's intention was to just gather information, not to fight Pain. However, Pain's abilities were far beyond anything we had imagined. As long as we don't know the extent of his powers, no one stands a chance against him. Still, Jiraiya-chan went out of his way to gather what little information he could get out of fighting Pain. Even with Uchiha Itachi there, they didn't stand against Pain. Pain possesses the Six paths of the Rinnegan. When they were left to die, rather than giving up. Jiraiya-chan gathered the last of his energy to leave this code behind" Fukasaku pulled away his cloak, revealing his small back, encrypted with a bunch of numbers.

"In the end he was found out and the Six paths of Pain came back to finish us off, if it weren't for the Uchiha boy, I would've been done in"

Naruto's eyes were widened, his fist clenched white and shaking as he dared himself to ask "S-So Ero-sennin... he's..." his voice trailed off. Fukasaku turned his head to glance at Naruto "You must be his apprentice... I'm sorry" he said. Naruto took a step back "No..." his voice was shaky "NO!" he shouted. His voice echoed throughout the hall.

Everyone was looking down, mourning the death of the Sannin. Tsunade's teeth was clenched, tears clung on to her eyes, threatening to fall.

"Did you let him go, baa-chan?" Naruto muttered. Tsunade closed her eyes then looked up to face him "That's right" her voice didn't waver. "Why did you let him go...? You knew Ero-sennin better than anyone! How could you let him go to such a dangerous place!?"Naruto's voice got louder as he shouted at the hokage.

Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder "Itachi was there too, Naruto. If both of them together didn't stand a chance, Konoha is in danger. They're coming for you next" said Sasuke. "We need to find out what that code stands for" said Kakashi.

Naruto jerked off Sasuke's hand and stormed off.

They watched his back grow smaller and smaller down the hallway. "He must've been really close to Jiraiya-chan" said Fukasaku. "He's Uzumaki Naruto, he wanted Jiraiya to see him become Hokage" said Tsunade, she sniffed and tried to shrug off any signs of weakness "Kakashi, get that code photographed and have Shikamaru and the Cryptanalysis squad working on this" said Tsunade. "Right"

"This way, Fukasaku-sama" Kakashi approached Tsunade and the elderly toad jumped onto his shoulder.

Tsunade turned to face Sasuke "Watch over Sakura, Sasuke. She's going to have to know." said Tsunade. Sasuke nodded.

...

Naruto ran out the hospital, stumbling out the front door. Hinata was waiting for him, looking at him anxiously. He gave her a sad look before he disappeared into the village tops. She stood there, not sure whether to go after him or give him his space.

Naruto spent the whole day locked up in his apartment, he ignored everyone that knocked on his door. They must've heard the news and came to cheer him up but he refused to be cheered up, he couldn't find the energy in him to do anything. All he wanted to do was to lay in bed all day and wake up the next day to have someone tell him that he was just having a bad dream.

However a small part of him had already accept the fact that he will never be able to see his mentor again. All those times that perverted sage dragged him to peek at the women's bath claiming it was to hone his presence concealing technique or it was to 'gather data'

But the only thing they ever gathered were a mob of angry, violated women.

The first time they met, the first thing he told him was-

_"I'm not a pervert... I'm a super pervert!"_

The time when he cheered him up when he was doubting the meaning of existence, and the place he can call home.

_"They say wherever someone is thinking of you, that place is your home" _

His thoughts were interrupted when Shikamaru knocked on his window and gestured him to come out. Naruto ignored him initially, till the lazy genius let himself in from the unlocked window. "Naruto" he began. "That code Jiraiya-sama left for us, we can't solve it without some sort of key. We need your help" said Shikamaru.

Naruto's eyes were lifeless, he hadn't seen a Naruto without energy before and it was freaking him out. Shikamaru sighed "Look, I know you're shaken up at the loss of your teacher. I know how it feels" he said, recalling that brief moment when he feel a world of grief rushing up his whole being when he watched the light from Asuma's eyes fade. "You want revenge, more than anything. But bear in mind that that it won't bring him back, you're just going to end up feeling shittier about yourself"

Naruto's eyes, still lifeless, looked up at Shikamaru as if expecting something to happen. "Think about it, when you have your answer try and come over to the library to help out with the decoding. You might know something"

Shikamaru showed himself to the door and left.

...

The day passed and it was already dusk. Tsunade was just finishing off the last of the paperwork, she handed it to Shizune, her assistant took it and left the room, giving the depressed looking Tsunade one more glance before she walked out, closing the door behind her. The room was dark, she hadn't bothered to ask Shizune to turn on the lights, in fact Shizune suspected that she'd prefer it this way. Her mentor is a stubborn woman, she refuses to show any signs of weakness. However she couldn't help it this time, and she tried to hide her watery eyes with the darkness as she quietly finishes her work.

Tsunade looked down at her hands on her wooden desk, her fingers dug into the wood, making scratch marks as she clenched her hands into fists. She lowered her head onto her fists on the table. "Jiraiya..." she muttered painfully.

_That night when he invited her out for a drink, some part of her knew that that was the last time she was ever going to see him. If all it took for her to make him stay was to accept his passes then she would've done it without a second thought. She loved him more than he could imagine and now- he will never know. _

...

It was past midnight, Naruto sat up on his bed. He had been lying on his bed the whole time and he didn't sleep a wink. The fact that Jiraiya is dead finally sunk it completely but that became the only thing he could think of and it's haunting him to no end.

He decided to take a little walk through the village in hopes he would spot something he could think about. Even though that was his intention his attention never left the ground, he looked like hadn't slept in years and his footsteps were dragged and heavy.

It was the white light of the 24 hour convenience that lifted his eyes off the ground, he stared at it from the outside like a zombie before finally going in and coming out with a split popsicle. The ones he and Jiraiya ate when they were traveling together. He had seen father and son share one like that and Jiraiya offered to get one for them.

His mentor was more of a father to him than anyone had been, he was the closest thing he had to a father.

Naruto's body hunched over as sat on a nearby park bench under the street light, he held the popsicle with his right hand with both his hands propped over his knees. He made no move to eat the melting dessert, in fact he didn't move at all.

The purpose of this trip had obviously failed because it only made him think deeper into Jiraiya's death. It was like there were voices in his head, screaming and shouting to him that Jiraiya is gone. It sunk in alright, it sunk too deep. It was overwhelmingly painful he couldn't help but to let his feelings overflow.

He was crying because he's accepted the fact that he will never see him again.

Naruto had been so distracted he hadn't even realized there'd been someone trailing him since he left his house. Someone he left unsatisfied outside the hospital. Someone who has always watch him from the shadows, someone named Hyuga Hinata.

Hinata was afraid she would startle him if she got too close so she stayed a distance away but close enough to keep an eye of him. It was his tears that brought her out of hiding, she could no longer stand the sight of him crying because it was always him who comforted her when she cried, the one who gave her the _strength_ to stop crying.

Now it was her turn to repay the debt.

She approached him slowly, appearing out of the darkness before entering the exposure of the streetlight. When he made no move to acknowledge her presence but she sat down next to him nonetheless. It was all silent before Naruto spoke "I wanted him to watch over me... to watch me become Hokage..." his eyes narrowed painfully as the tears continued to roll down his cheeks "To make him proud, you know?"

Hinata looked at him, her eyebrows arching in sympathy before it was replaced with a soft smile "Naruto-kun" she said, arching over and trying to get his attention. Naruto looked over at her, back straightening as he followed her eyes to sit up. She reached over to put her hands on his cheeks, wiping away his tears with her thumbs.

"I know he means a lot to you" she said as her soft opal eyes melt into him like butter. She smiled "But you can't stay depressed forever" her eyes squinted lovingly. She let go of his face and reached for his popsicle which seemed to slip out of his hands the moment she held it. "Jiraiya-sama wouldn't want that" she pulled the popsicle apart and handed one to him "You are his student after all, you need to be strong when he can't be"

Naruto's eyes widened at her, then looked down at the popsicle. Slowly his lips curved into a smile as he took it. "Thanks, Hinata" he pushed his forehead against hers. Grinning cheekily.

...

They had Jiraiya's funeral the next day, the whole village was there, it had been raining since dawn. The atmosphere of the village depressed to the point of it being tragic. People were crying, tears mixed with rain but Naruto's expression remained strong as the rain soaked him, then suddenly the rain stopped, he looked to the side and met eyes with Hinata, holding an umbrella up for them with a smile.

...

Sakura had awoken just as Sasuke was leaving for the funeral and Sasuke had no choice but to inform the confused girl about what happened to Naruto's mentor. She had been absolutely horrified and she cried knowing what Naruto must be going through. She had insisted on attending the funeral but she was still far too weak to move herself and Sasuke had canceled his plans on attending the funeral to accompany his depressed girlfriend as they sat on her bed silently with the occasional choked sob that escapes Sakura.

...

Tsunade's eyes never left the ground, her eyes were tired and there were bags under her eyes. Shizune held an umbrella for her mentor and Tsunade didn't even notice.

...

After the funeral, Naruto went to help Shikamaru with the code decryption.

The death of Jiraiya has caused panic throughout the village and this is when the Hokage had to take the pressure on her shoulders. She briefed multiple teams of shinobi, each given a task to complete as preparation for the invasion of the Akatsuki, they were going to warn their nearby ally villages and have them on alert. Now that Pain knows that Fukasaku got away with Jiraiya's message, there is a high chance that they are going to intercept any outgoing messages from Konoha, using messenger kites were too risky. The shinobi teams being sent have to be on the top of their game.

After a week of discussions with the board, Tsunade decided that the ANBU will remain in the village as their main pillar of defense. Team Yamato had been sent out to inform Kusagakure. Team Gai was sent out to alert Sunagakure as their team were the fastest in terms of speed and Sunagakure was the furthest alliance village. Team Kakashi were chosen to inform Takigakure however Kakashi said he'd like to help with the decryption and Naruto was busy with the same thing. So that leaves Sasuke and Sakura.

"Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke. Your mission is to deliver a Hokage message to The village hidden in the Waterfall. If you encounter Pein, do not engage in combat. Find a way to escape and return to the village. Be careful" said Tsunade. Shizune handed Sakura the scroll, it was sealed up with a S rank seal, she could tell.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama" Sakura nodded and left with Sasuke.

They returned home to pack, the rain didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. "I still think you should rest at home" said Sasuke. "I don't think we can afford to rest at a time like this, besides a solo messenger would be too risky" said Sakura.

"Tch"

Sasuke entered his room and gave his door a little back kick to close it as he proceeded to take out his pack and took out various scrolls with seals on them. Seals for all sorts of weapons. He checked his pouch to make sure he had everything and when he was about to go over to his drawer to grab a few more smoke bombs, his vision went blurry and his body began to throb with pain. His back felt like it was on fire, he muffled a shriek and fell to his knees.

This feeling became all too familiar, it was the feeling of him losing control over his cursed seal which hasn't happened spontaneously for a long time now. "Sasuke" Sakura's voice sounded through the closed door. Sasuke panicked and struggled to get back on his feet, he was not going to let himself get pulled from the mission and let Sakura go alone. "Sasuke, do you have extra kunais. I seem to have run ou..." Sakura's voice trailed as she laid eyes on Sasuke's back.

"Sasuke? Are you okay?" she asked. "Yeah I'm fine" he said without turning around. "If you're not feeling well then I can ask Tsunade-sama to pull you-"

"Sakura I'm fine!" he snarled. He turned back to look at her, Sakura's eyes widened slightly. "O-Okay" she mumbled. Sasuke reached over to his drawer and pulled out a new pack of unopened kunais and handed it over to Sakura.

"Thanks" she said and then trotted out the room.

Sasuke closed the door and sighed, the pain was fading and he hoped it'd stay that way till they come back from the mission.

Sakura opened the pack and paused, 'Back then... Sasuke he...' for a moment she thought she had seen a flash of Sasuke's sharingan activate, but then she shook off that feeling. 'Can't be'

At the village gates...

The thunder rumbled, Sakura looked up at the sky. Her gripped tightened around the scroll before she stuffing it in her pack. She looked over at Sasuke, as usual his expression was hard like stone. He looked over to her, they nodded at each other then they disappeared.

**Next Chapter**

"It's no use, I've read too many. I don't remember them"

"Sasuke? Sasuke! What's wrong"

"The cursed seal is a very delicate technique and it needs... maintenance"

"Then have fun cutting up Haruno Sakura"

"I broke her..."


	17. Broken

**I decided to throw this out for my old readers and apologize for updating so slowly**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

* * *

**Broken**

Naruto's eyes narrowed to slits as he rubbed his chin, thinking as Shikamaru and Shiho stared at him. "So? Anything?" asked Shikamaru.

"Mm... I can't relate to any of this" said Naruto.

Shikamaru sighed "There has to be something, Jiraiya wouldn't have left us a code without a key to break it"

Shiho pushed up her glasses "This must've been left for Naruto-kun" she said.

"Mm... there has been something that's been bothering me for awhile." said Naruto.

"What is it" Shikamaru asked, looking hopeful once again.

Naruto pointed at the first character on the top right of Fukasaku's back in the picture. "Why is that the only katakana" said Naruto.

Shikamaru looked at the picture "What are you talking about, that's a number 9 isn't it" said Shikamaru.

"That's what I thought at first but then I realized that it's the Katakana 'Ta'" said Naruto. Shikamaru gave him an odd look.

Shiho spoke up "Naruto-kun would you mind explaining why you think this is a katakana 'Ta' and not the number 9" she said.

"Well, when I was travelling with Ero-sennin, he made me read his novel manuscripts. They were really boring though. I always had trouble with reading the 'Ta' because he always wrote it like that" said Naruto.

"That's it, Jiraiya-sama must've known you'd be able to understand that. This is definitely a code left for you, Naruto-kun" said Shiho.

Shikamaru rubbed his chin "That's true, no one but Naruto would be able to tell the difference. But then… why 'Ta'" said Shikamaru.

"Hm..."

There was a moment of silence before Shikamaru slammed his palms on the table "His novels, Naruto do you remember which of his manuscripts you first read" said Shikamaru, looking expectantly at Naruto.

Naruto thought for a moment then shook his head "It's no use, I've read too many to remember them individually" said Naruto.

Then suddenly the window slid open, everyone looked and found Kakashi standing outside, holding a book up "This is the book you're looking for" it was a statement, not a question. "This is the only book that Jiraiya-sama published that had the word 'Ta' in the title" Kakashi added.

They read the title 'Icha-Icha Tactics'

Naruto pointed at it and shouted "Ah! That's the one!"

Shiho pushed her glasses up "So now we know the key. The rest should be simple; the numbers would probably be the page and the line number. Right then Kakashi-san, turn to page 31 and read the 8th line on that page" said Shiho. Kakashi turned to that page and when he saw the line, he stoned. "R-Read it out?" he stammered. "Yeah! Hurry up, Kakashi-sensei!"

"U-Um"

Meanwhile...

The rain was harsh on them, the cold wind was making their faces numb and their soaking clothes were extra weight. They traveled on the branches, the leaves helped to shield them slightly; just slightly. Sakura landed on a branch and paused there. Her head lifted before coming down in a sneeze. Sasuke looked back at her, a very faint stain of pink on his cheeks. He jumped back to her as she was sniffing with a blocked nose. He pulled out a hood and cloak from his pack and handed it to Sakura. "Put this on"

Sakura smiled and took it gratefully.

They pushed on, just passing Konoha's patrol perimeter. It was then Sakura felt a very familiar chakra nearby. Sasuke's cursed seal began to release itself. And that's where everything started to go downhill.

Orochimaru.

Sasuke missed a step and fell from a tree only to be saved by Sakura. She wrapped his arm around her shoulder and her hand to his waist, helping him to stand. Orochimaru appeared before them, standing with a proud smirk on his face. "I came to get you, Sasuke-kun" his deep voice could be heard clearly through the sound of heavy rain drops. Sasuke didn't even look up, he grunted in pain as he struggled to control his seal.

Sakura panicked "Sasuke? Sasuke! What's wrong" Sakura's head snapped up at Orochimaru "What did you do to him!" she snapped angrily at the snake man. Orochimaru chuckled "It's not what I did, it's what I didn't do to him" he smirked at her. Sakura was confused, the weight around her shoulder was increasing, she didn't let go.

"The cursed seal is a very delicate technique and it needs... maintenance" said Orochimaru. Sakura scowled but let Orochimaru continue "The seal unlocks many powers; however it is still a seal. It needs to be released, which is why I asked for Sasuke-kun to join me; so that I may release his level 2. If I don't, the seal is just going to go out of my hands and he's going to naturally lose control" Orochimaru's smirk grew into a sinister grin "And he's going to slaughter anything and everything he sees until he collapses from exhaustion, the only reason why he lasted this long is because of his sharingan's control abilities. But now it's gotten out of his ability to suppress it with his sharingan alone"

Sakura's heart raced, trying to think of way she could help Sasuke. If she doesn't think of something soon, Sasuke was going to return to that killing machine. She could feel his chakra build up to a dangerous extent, this time he really is going to kill her.

The black markings had already covered his body and he slipped out of her hold and fell to the ground. "Sasuke...!"

"Now then... Sasuke-kun. Will you join me? I can make all this pain go away, by the time we're done; you'll be able to feel the difference" chuckled Orochimaru. "I'd rather die" spat Sasuke, his sharingan eyes glaring up at Orochimaru. He remembered how devastated Sakura looked when he had left her the first time, he was not about to make her go through that again.

"Of course you would, but before you die. You're going to kill that little girlfriend of yours" said Orochimaru.

Sasuke's eyes widened because he knew, he was right.

Orochimaru let out a deep chuckle and held out his hand "I'm going to ask you think again, will you come quietly" he said. The thought of joining Orochimaru did sound more pleasant than hurting Sakura with his own hands but knowing the snake sannin, he probably never had the intention of letting Sakura go in the first place. Gathering energy in his lungs, he forced through the burn and spoke "Never" and that was his answer.

Orochimaru frowned "Is that so?" he snorted un-amusedly. "Then have fun cutting up Haruno Sakura" he added manically.

Sasuke's seal throbbed and he cried out in pain. Sakura looked away from Orochimaru for a moment to look at Sasuke, by the time she looked back. He was gone.

Sasuke panted and gripped on to the side of his neck "Sakura" he said breathlessly. "I'm right here, it's okay" she said, gripping on to his other hand. Sasuke shook his head with what control he had left on his body and forced his last conscious words from his body.

"Run"

Her eyes widened as his shriek filled the forest; his body was overflowing with dark chakra so much to the extent of it being suffocating. Then everything went quiet, Sasuke let go of Sakura's hand and stood up. Her eyes followed his limping body then traced to his eyes. "Sa...suke..?" her eyes widened when he pulled his kusanagi on her.

Missing her neck by an inch as she dodged, flipping backwards. She took a step back as he came closer and closer. One step back, two steps and then she ran. He chased.

As she ran, she could feel his chakra coming closer. Creeping up to her on a dangerously close level till she had no choice but to turn back and counter his kusanagi slamming down on her. Her eyes glowed green and a breeze of chakra swept through, she looked down at Sasuke's feet to avoid his eyes.

_"Once you've locked blades with me, do not look into my eyes. I will activate my sharingan"_

And this time, she can't be fooling around anymore. She kept her eyes glued on his leg and when he gave the slightest twitch of his feet, she let him have it "Fuuton, Kaze Chakra (Wind Technique, Chakra Wind)"

Without forming a hand seal, she built up her chakra and let loose a blast of wind that sent him flying backwards. As soon as his feet was off the branch, she threw her kunai at him before forming a "Fuuton, Atsugai (Wind Technique, Pressure Damage)"

_"Stick with long range attacks, preferably Fuuton"_

The wind around Sakura began to pick up on speed. Sasuke blocked off the kunai with his kusanagi and before he knew it, Sakura had started an outwards blasting dome of wind that's increasing in size. He scanned the incoming attack with his sharingan, noting down the nearest weak spots were there was an area where the chakra levels are lower than the rest.

When Sasuke came slicing in through her technique, Sakura cut the technique short and flung her kunais at him from bottom to top. Sasuke scattered them with a swing of his blade, the mere force was enough to slow them down and knock them off their track.

_"Throw in a vertical manner; you'll be able to stall me for a longer time"_

Sakura detonated the paper bombs, covering him in a smokescreen. Though she knew it was useless to even try to blind Sasuke, still it bought her enough time to leap off the tree and run. She wanted to prevent this before she would be forced to kill him. She had to look at the other possibilities of helping him gain back control.

Sakura didn't make far before Sasuke caught up to her again. His speed and strength were increasing as they fought. Sakura's punches were being deflected aside by his Kusanagi, and then she saw it. A very brief opening but she saw it. She managed to land a hit on his left shoulder, he stumbled backwards. Growling darkly as his shoulder went limp. Sakura's blood was seeping through her gloves and dripping to the floor, his kusanagi had cut through her layer of heavily pumped chakra.

_"Aim for my left shoulder"_

"Sasuke... can you hear me?" she said.

His gripped tightened on his sword and he disappeared. Sakura formed a seal as she ducked down, slamming her palm onto the ground "Doton, Retsudo Tensho (Earth Technique, Earthquake Slam)" The ground around Sakura began to crumbled and shake violently. Sasuke had been so close to decapitating Sakura before he lost his footing and slipped into the cracks.

_"Go for my feet, I tend to neglect the possibilities of an attack from the ground"_

Sakura ran.

She hid her very trace of chakra and ran as fast as her feet would take her without the use of chakra. Tears streamed down her face as she ran, never in her life had she felt so utterly helpless. She'd fight a beast a million times bigger than her, size up against a battalion of shinobi or even a demon from the underworld- but never Sasuke.

Her eyes widened, she jerked herself to the right and tumbled to the ground as Sasuke's chidori senbon stabbed into the ground where she had just been stepping on. She got up on one knee, teeth clenched as she looked up on the demonic stature of Sasuke. His breaths were loud and his sharingan looked clouded.

He shot down at her from the branch, pulling his kusanagi to point at her but he found himself being launched backwards by an electrifying force. He crashed into a tree, his body smoking. He retaliated immediately, going for Sakura once again. Sakura stood in the middle of her chakra barrier, watching his attempts to tear down her defense with wary eyes.

Watching from the inside as Sasuke lashed out on her barrier, trying to tear it apart. Her body ached with every attack he pulled on her barrier but even she knew that her barrier was impossible to penetrate. She would just have to wait here till her chakra runs out; she prays that Sasuke would collapse before she does.

She took a step towards him. Sasuke continuously slammed the kusanagi blade down on the barrier-Another step. Sasuke unleashed a stream of attacks at her- Another step. Sasuke lit his hand with chidori and slammed his hand onto the barrier one time after another without stopping. Sakura stood three feet away from the inside of the barrier; she reached out her hand to Sasuke.

Sasuke growled with his hand clawed on the barrier, despite the obvious damage the barrier is doing to his hand.

_'If it's just for awhile, if I could just touch him'_

Sakura's eyes widened and then they went blank. A jolt ran down her spine as she traced the glowing electric light to her own body. Sasuke's Chidori Eiso (Chidori Sharp Spear) had gone right through her, blood leaking out and staining the spear. She coughed a mouthful of blood.

The barrier crumbled and so did Sakura. However he didn't let her body fall, he swung a kick to her stomach and sent her crashing through the forest like a meteor. He went after her, maneuvering through the collapsed trees before finally finding her body crushed beneath a fallen tree. Sakura's fingers twitched as she pushed herself back up.

"Sa...suke"

She managed to get herself out from under the tree and stumbling to her feet. She realized that she could no longer afford to be so naive, she was a shinobi. Her feelings for Sasuke were clouding her judgment—that was unacceptable. When she looked at her situation, she clearly had the upper hand. Compared the usual Sasuke who possessed control over all his movements with beautiful grace, this Sasuke was only halved his potential. His movements were rash and predictable, his chakra was all over the place. Sakura possessed knowledge on all of his weakness. Now all she has to do was use them, if she completely released her seal she would be capable of doing it. She is capable of killing him.

No more regrets.

"Kaiho"

The chains that bounded her down were released. Her eyes glowed fiercely and her body was covering in green chakra. She gripped on to her kunai and went for Sasuke. Each of their attacks collided with a painfully loud clang, equal in strength; they were blowing each other's attacks away.

She locked her kunai with Sasuke's kusanagi with one hand and landed a punch on his left shoulder, this time she made sure to dislocate it. As he shot downwards towards the ground, he flipped himself back and landed on his feet. With a pop, he relocated his shoulder without so much as a wince. He formed his handseals and unleashed a flaming dragon at her. Sakura didn't move, she formed her own seals as well "Fuuton, Kaze Bakufu (Wind Technique, Wind Burst)"

An upwards current shot up in front of Sakura just before the dragon touched her, blowing the attack into the sky. Dark clouds accumulated and the rain stopped, the sky rumbled. Sakura held a seal. "Kaiton, Akaakato Raiu (Release Technique, Flaming Thunderstorm)"

The lightning struck down on the forest at random. Sasuke looked up at the sky, pinpointing when and where each strike will fall and carefully avoiding them as he moved in closer and closer to Sakura. Sakura's eyes narrowed and the next phase struck.

Fireballs rained from the sky like rain, setting the forest ablaze. Once the technique was complete Sakura released the seal and formed more "Doton, Tsuchi no Kei (Earth Technique, Earth's Imprisonment)"

Her eyes shot open and she jumped down from the branch. She came out through the flames and approached a bounded Sasuke who struggled to break free. Sakura looked down at his kusanagi and picked it up. Her eyes were blank as she brought it up to his neck.

_"If I really lose control, I want you to kill me"_

Teeth clenched, she muttered her apology "I'm sorry"

The kusanagi fell onto the ground with a clang, Sakura released him from the technique. Her chakra had pretty much run out, she had a chance. And she let it go.

Sakura winced as Sasuke's Chidori Nagashi wrapped around her body, paralyzing her as they bounded her. He lifted her off the ground. She looked at him through a hooded gaze. His sharingan tomoes circled and she was suddenly plunged into a dark world. The smell of blood was all she could smell.

She couldn't see- everything was dark. She felt like her body was destroying herself, yet she couldn't cry out in pain or even shed a tear. It felt like an eternity before she could hear again. Her body was still throbbing with pain, she had no idea what had happened. She could hear the rain and the coldness of the water on her skin.

And then she felt _his_ presence.

His kusanagi was once again on her chest. Her lips twitched into a smile as she lifted her hand and found his face. "I love you... Sasuke" her voice faded and her hand fell.

Her body went stiff, and cold.

…

_ .Drip_.

There was something dripping on her face, and it wasn't just the rain.

Tears were dripping from the emotionless eyes of Sasuke. His hands trembled as he held her like how she held him when he was dying. His mind was on self-destruct; his eyes were looking forward and nowhere else. His pupils began to move, looking down on the pale body in his hands. His eyes began to change.

The patterns on his sharingan were changing. The black parts engulfed the red parts before the red finally morphed into a flower shape with a black line six point star in the middle. His marks were suppressed and he returned to normal. He stared down at Sakura's body blankly, not quite knowing what to do. "Sakura" he said.

Back in Konoha...

Itachi's eyes shot open and his heart rate increased, the monitor was beating faster and faster as he sat up, ripping the oxygen mask from his face and panting heavily. Sensors stuck all over his bare chest, his long ponytail let down and sweat clinging on to his forehead as she brought a hand up to his face and covered one of his eyes. "Sasuke...!" he said in a panicked tone.

Back to Sasuke...

"Sakura..."

His eyes widened "Sakura!" he pulled her closer to him. Hands trembling as he kept seeing her blood on them. He picked her up, and then he was gone. He pushed himself as fast as he could go; he was nothing but a streak of colors in the wind.

...

Tsunade had seen many things in her life, but this was the first time she had seen anyone with a body this beaten up and have a heart still beating. It was very faint, but Sakura wasn't dead yet. She had been in the middle of filing some paperwork when a doctor rushed into her office, panting and in his uniform with surgical gloves stained with blood and telling her that she's needed in the emergency room, again. Someone had arrived at the village, running straight for the hospital and shouting for help with a bloody corpse in his hand.

Her blood ran cold when she saw who the emergency patient was.

Her vitals were below the chart and her oxygen circulation was impossible. Tsunade's brows furrowed as she heals her student's wounds. _'Is this the work of Pain...?'_

Sasuke stood right outside the emergency room, his body was beaten up as well but all he could think of was Sakura, about how he tortured her, how he felt her life fade in his hands. How her hand slipped out of his.

He placed a filthy hand on the door, his fingers curled up and clawed as he slid to the ground; His voice wavering as he called her name. "Sakura..." his voice sounded almost pathetic.

Kakashi and Naruto arrived, both just as panicked as each other. "Sasuke, what happened!?" Naruto demanded. Sasuke remained where he was. Kakashi knew there is definitely something wrong, Sasuke never knelt in front of people, and he never did anything to make himself look inferior.

"Sasuke!" Naruto gripped his shoulder. Sasuke's head snapped around, eyes wide as he grabbed Naruto by the front and slammed the boy into the wall behind, pressing him upwards as he looked down. "With my own hands..." he muttered hoarsely. "I broke her..." he whimpered.

Naruto and Kakashi's eyes widened.

**Next Chapter**

"You bastard..."

"Blaming yourself isn't like you"

"Sa...suke..."

"I will escort him myself to the Torture and Interrogation Department"

"No more!"

* * *

**I know, cliffys are bad for your health but... **

**:D **

**I'm sorry, haha, I'll try not to take forever to update. **

**Try. **

**See you guys next chapter! Oh and review if you can, It makes me happy. **

**Random Question of the Chapter!**

**Who do you think would have the nicest body in Konoha 12? **

**Ladies, let your imagination go wild. You're welcome.**


	18. Awaken

**Awaken**

Naruto could do nothing but stare at Sasuke as he held himself back from sobbing. His fingers still clenched onto his shirt, trembling as his strength faded. Naruto wrapped his fingers around Sasuke's hands and ripped them off of him "What do you mean... break her" Naruto demanded darkly.

"I killed her. Naruto, I killed her!" Sasuke shouted with his head hung low "With my own hands... It was all me" He didn't dare to lift his head; he didn't want to imagine the look on his teammate's face. His fingers released from Naruto's shirt before he felt a strong tug on his own, making him look up. Naruto's eyes were fierce as his punch connected with Sasuke's jaw that sent him stumbling backwards.

"You bastard..." he spat. Sasuke was expecting this treatment from Naruto, he'd be damned if he thinks that this was all the punishment he gets. "That promise we made, about how we'd never hurt Sakura." Naruto waited for recognition to appear on Sasuke's features before continuing "We both know you would never break it, I know there's more to this, Sasuke. I'm not stupid" Naruto snapped. "And don't say stupid things like that, Sakura-chan is still alive!" Naruto added.

Sasuke looked up at the blond, hair falling over his eyes and his jaw throbbing. "Blaming yourself isn't like you" said Naruto, he gave him a cheeky grin and held out a fist to him. Sasuke looked surprised, he looked away then smirked. He realized that what he did was very uncharacteristic of him. He looked at the held out fist and knocked it with his own "Yeah..."

Sasuke then swung a punch at Naruto and sent him off balance "What the hell?!" snapped Naruto, whipping his head back around to glare at Sasuke. "That's for hitting me" Sasuke deadpanned and glared back.

"Wha-" Naruto was about to complained when he heard Sasuke mutter-

"Thanks"

His cheeky grin returned as he looped his arm around Sasuke and pulled his head down "That's more like the boring piece of crap I know"

Kakashi sighed and smirked under his mask 'Those two have grown after all' his attention turn to the operation room door, or rather, the one that was in there. His eye narrowed with concern _'Sakura...'_

On the inside, Tsunade was shouting curses and at her student as her pulse dropped "Sakura! Come back, c'mon!" she sounded in frustration, and panic. Sakura's blood was everywhere, her insides were bleeding out. Tsunade could feel her Haemophobia wrecking her conscience with the mere sight of it, she forced herself to swallow it down and push on. Shizune was shouting orders at the nurses by the panic and havoc dimmed out to her as she noticed the slightest movement within her student.

Her finger twitched and her head moved just slightly as she breathed into the oxygen mask "Sa...suke..." Tsunade's eyes widened as she saw tears gathering at the side of her eyes. She gritted her teeth and lifted her hands from Sakura's body. Shizune was carrying over a fresh tray of towels and water when she saw Tsunade lift her hands as if she was going to give up on Sakura.

"Tsunade-sama! What are you-" her words we cut off when Tsunade shut her eyes and told her "Be quiet for a while, Shizune"

Shizune's eyes widened, she recognized that technique all too well. "Infuin, Kai" The diamond mark of her forehead spread out like branches and glowing a dark purple colour. She slammed her hands together and gripped a seal "Sozo Saisei!"

Sakura's wounds started to smoke as they closed up, as if they were just evaporating into thin air. Sakura's heart jerked to an awakening, she gasped for air as her chest arched up and slammed back down onto the operation table.

Her face scrunched up in pain as she began to squirm "Hold her down!" Tsunade commanded and immediately there were three nurses including Shizune holding Sakura's limbs down.

Sakura panted, desperate to fill her lungs but for some reasons each time she breathes in she couldn't get enough oxygen.

_It's hot... _

_My body feels like it's on fire. What happened? It's so dark. Oh, that's right. I must've been caught up in the fire in the forest. Sasuke..._

_Sasuke!_

Tsunade had stopped the bleeding; now all that's left to do is to seal the wounds. It was then she heard Sakura's voice "Sasuke... Wake up" she called out to him between pants. As if she was having a nightmare.

Sasuke suddenly felt at alert, he rose from his seat to walk over to the door. He had an urge to break it down, he wanted to know. No, he _needed_ to know.

It was then Tsunade slid the door open with a bang, the light on the 'Operation in Progress' sign went out. Her eyes immediately fell on the Uchiha who took a step back as if he was bracing himself for something. She scanned him from head to toe, her brows furrowed into a scowl as she

'So it's true' she thought and let out a breath, eyes closed in a disappointment. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, avoiding smudging herself with Sakura's blood. Sasuke took a look at her hand that was covered Sakura's blood. He looked down as if he was ashamed to face Tsunade.

"Sakura is stable; she will be transferred into a special ward as a patient under protective custody. Uchiha Sasuke is to be processed and taken under the Torture and Interrogation Force for information extraction" said Tsunade. Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widened, Sasuke didn't look up.

"Wait, Tsunade-baa-" Naruto was cut off by a fierce tone of Tsunade's voice "He is to go nowhere near Haruno Sakura. Hostile actions can and will be taken against him should he show up near her ward" said Tsunade.

Sasuke blinked, he could handle being tortured, hanged, beaten with a mace but to separate Sakura from him was like tearing a chunk of his life away. He didn't want to be separated. He could feel a vicious impulse growing stronger and stronger in him. One thought flashed in his mind like neon lights-

_If they won't allow me to see her, I'll just have to kill everyone in my way_.

Slowly his sharingan appeared in his eyes. It was Kakashi's firm grip on his shoulder that brought him back to reality. "I will escort him myself to the Torture and Interrogation Department" said Kakashi. Sasuke snapped out of it, realizing what had become of him. His chest heaved in breaths slightly as he looked to Kakashi.

Tsunade nodded then turned to Naruto "Naruto, I need a word with you" the Sannin said. Kakashi nodded his head towards the hallway and walked, silently Sasuke followed. He was tired; all this rush of adrenaline pumping up and down, he felt like his body was going to give out at any second. But when he thought of what Sakura had suffered he didn't feel tired anymore.

Of course now, he wasn't allowed to think of Sakura. The mere thought would awaken his need to see her again; he didn't even get to see her after her operation. And then a thought crossed his mind. He wanted to see her, but that doesn't necessarily mean that she would feel the same. After all he did try to kill her and nearly succeeded.

_'No matter what you turn into, I will always love you'_

Sasuke felt a sharp pain shooting from his eyes; he shut his eyes and halted. Kakashi looked back at him. "What's wrong, Sasuke" he asked. Sasuke winced and blinked his eyes as he tried to catch his blurring vision. Sasuke took a step back and stumbled backwards uncharacteristically before coming to a stop when Kakashi pulled an arm around his shoulder.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" asked Kakashi. Sasuke panted as he gripped the right side of his face as if his eye was in immense pain. "No, I'm okay" he said mostly to himself. Kakashi gave him a concerned look and began to wonder a little before giving Sasuke a light push back on track "I'll book a checkup for you after your interrogation" said Kakashi.

"How long will it take?" asked Sasuke. "Well that depends on the number of your injuries-" Kakashi was cut off by an impatient growl from Sasuke "I meant the interrogation"

Of course Kakashi knew that, he just couldn't help but tease his student a little to really see how nervous he was about the interrogation and based on Sasuke's reaction, he'd say he was pretty nervous for his first time.

Sasuke had never been in the torture and interrogation room, but he's fully aware of what happens in there if you refuse to answer a question. But what he was worried about wasn't the physical torture, but the mental torture. He wasn't confident that he would be able to take on any more stress on his mind, he might just go insane. The only time he had been near the bloody room was when they interrogated Sakura when she lost her memories and he remembered that he didn't like the feeling of it then, and he was only just watching

"It won't take long, Sasuke" Kakashi assured him. Sasuke's hands clenched into fist as he prayed Kakashi was right- he wouldn't bet on it though.

The Torture and Interrogation Chamber was ironically located in the basement of the hospital which didn't take them long to reach. As soon as they stepped into their territory, the Torture and Interrogation Force members turned their heads towards them. "I've brought Uchiha Sasuke in for Interrogation upon the Fifth Hokage's orders" said Kakashi.

The first one to approach them was Morino Ibiki. The intimidating man eyed Sasuke with suspicion "An Uchiha?" he snorted "There hasn't been an Uchiha in here since the last captain" Ibiki said. Sasuke's expression remained un-amused as he refused to show any sides to Morino Ibiki, he knew how that man studies you. Your reply, the tone of your reply and the face you make gives him all the information he needs to find out your weakness.

Though he was going to find out in the end, Sasuke just wanted to get this over with.

"His interrogation will be based on his last mission he returned from a few hours ago" said Kakashi. Ibiki nodded "Very well" he turned and walked to a large machine with wires joint to a helmet with Sasuke trailing behind him. Kakashi left the force to do their work and silently wished Sasuke good luck.

"Because of your sharingan we'll need to place a seal on you for now" said Ibiki as he motioned one of the chunin to come over to perform a basic seal on Sasuke. The chunin, Tonbo came over and faced Sasuke, he formed a few seals and plunged his hand into Sasuke's stomach, making the latter gasp and cough a little. Immediately Sasuke could feel the effects, his body felt heavy and sluggish. It was like his body turned to stone.

"Alrigh, to make this simple, we are just going to go through your memories" said Ibiki as he nodded over to the machine "Sit down"

Sasuke did as he was told and felt the helmet come down on his head, covering down to his eyes. He felt metal cuffs clamp down on his wrist and forbidding his hand's freedom. He could feel them reaching into his mind as he drifted, feeling lightheaded and sleepy and then everything went dark for him.

There he was, standing in the darkness. What is that? An image?

It was him, and Sakura. They were running through the rain. Oh that's right, they were supposed to deliver a message to Takigakure. And then they stopped for a while when Sakura sneezed, he gave her his cloak. Since then he felt like his cursed seal was bugging him.

And then _he_ showed up. Sasuke was watching a re-run of his memories.

Orochimaru.

He clenched his hands.

This is where it began, he watched himself lose control, as Sakura tried to calm him down. Orochimaru's words echoing around.

"The cursed seal is a very delicate technique and it needs... maintenance"

"Never" Sasuke snapped at Orochimaru.

Would the outcome have been better if he had just agreed to go with Orochimaru, then at least Sakura wouldn't have to go through that.

He watched himself lash out on Sakura; her eyes were filled with terror as she ran. He didn't want to see this again, he knew he was just being a coward but he'd rather be a coward than to have to watch himself hurt Sakura.

"No more..." he said, his eyes never leaving the memory replay in the dark, teeth clenched and knuckles white as he relived each slash, each blow he delivered on Sakura. Every drop of blood that spurted out of her body, drenched her clothing and stained his.

And before he knew it, he felt something warm and wet rolling down his cheeks. He didn't want to watch, but he couldn't look away. "No more!" he screamed downwards, body bent forward.

His chakra went out of control as the machine began smoking.

"C-Captain" Shimon Hijiri turned to the Morino Ibiki who was standing back as supervisor. He scowled as he noticed as well. Sasuke's chakra was going out of control. "I knew I should've held Inoichi back" he cursed.

"Prepare for suppression" he told his team. There were three chunin level interrogators around the machine holding Sasuke. They should be capable of suppressing one person's mentality power. "We're already suppressing him as much as we can, sir" Shinobu told the leader. Ibiki just barely managed to hold back from revealing his expression; he held his serious composure and tried to think. For now all he could do was hope that the seal will be enough to hold him till they're done with the interrogation.

Sasuke's hands gripped onto the concrete arm rest he had his hands on and it cracked.

The seal was destroyed and Sasuke's chakra was back to full power. The helmet was destroyed and Sasuke was free, the sudden explosion of chakra knocked everyone back. Morino Ibiki coughed and lowered his forearm from his face to check for Sasuke. He was still sitting there thanks to the cuffs holding him down to the seat.

But what caught his attention were his eyes, red and glowing. He knew his sharingan had activated due to his mental stress but he felt that something was wrong. Sasuke's eyes looked at him, his red eyes wide and frantic. Ibiki's eyes widened and he was plunged into a dark world, everything looked blood stained. He realized that he was pinned to a cross. "Mangekyo Sharingan, huh"

Sasuke was lashing out, yelling out and struggling to break free as if he was being mentally tormented. His mind couldn't hold after watching himself wound Sakura to that extent. He was completely unapproachable to anyone and there was no one left to stop him.

And then he called out to her. "Sakura...!"

Sasuke's eyes widened as he felt someone hold his face, connecting their foreheads with his. He was forced to meet his eyes with Itachi's own mangekyo. Slowly, he felt his sanity return. "It's okay now" the voice told him "Your big brother is here"

Sasuke breathing calmed a little, cheeks stained with tears; his chest heaving as his eyes mimicked his brother's and returned to normal. He blinked a few times and Itachi released his hands from Sasuke's face and straightened. "Welcome back, foolish little brother" said Itachi as he gave his brother a smile.

"You're awake?" asked Sasuke, not sure whether to believe what he's seeing. "You're in deep shit, Sasuke. That I can tell you" said Itachi, looking around at the mess Sasuke's explosion made and ignoring the question. "Don't change the subject, Itachi. When did you wake from your coma?" snapped Sasuke.

Itachi looked back at his brother and poked his forehead. "We'll talk after you're cleared" said Itachi. Sasuke scowled at his brother as he walked off, having a brief chat with Ibiki before disappearing into the lift back up to the hospital.

"Alright, Uchiha" Ibiki began as he walked towards Sasuke who was still bound by the cuffs. "You interrogation's done, Tsunade-sama will decide what to do with you later. Now I suggest you get yourself cleaned up and go talk to Itachi" said Ibiki as walked over to his desk to begin writing his report.

Sasuke felt the cuffs release and he immediately stood up, not so much as giving them a backwards glance when he chased after Itachi, hoping to catch the older Uchiha in the hallway however as the lift opened, he sensed no trace of Itachi around.

Just as he stepped out of the lift, his vision began to blur and his legs felt like jelly. He stumbled a little before catching himself against the wall beside him. Maybe he should make a quick trip back home, indeed he was filthy he could practically feel the smoke, dust, blood and dirt caked onto his skin and along the way he could take a quick cat nap in the showers.

He stood in the showers, water cascading down his body as he lowered his head, staring lifelessly at the drain as a never ending flow of bronze colored water swirled in. He reached out for his shampoo only to find that it had magically duplicated itself. Sasuke felt that dizzy sensation once again and his eyes played tricked on him. He swayed a little as he felt around for a hold on the shampoo bottle.

When he finally held it in his hands, he felt his body falling backwards, he pinned himself to the wall and slid to the floor, panting. He blinked a few times before his vision returned to normal. 'I must be more tired than I thought'

He brought a hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes for a second, but that second had turned into a whole hour. Sasuke's body had suddenly jerked awake, his body straightened and he looked up at the showers with a sleepy look. He sighed and climbed back up with the help of the wall.

As he was drying his hair, the smell of his shampoo lingered in his towel and he felt a strange sensation of nostalgia before he remembered that he used the same brand of shampoo as Sakura.

_Sakura..._

Sasuke sat down on his bed with nothing but a towel around his waist and on his head. He didn't like being so gloomy, but usually Sakura would barge in and demand something whenever he was down or sometimes the mere thought of her would lift him from a pit of gloom but now the more he thought of her, the deeper he fell in.

After he dressed himself, he was about to leave with his hair still wet before he paused and remembered the time he went to visit Sakura in the hospital, how she told him to dry his hair properly or he'll catch a cold.

He sighed and reached back to grab his towel.

Awhile later, Sasuke appeared standing in Itachi's room, staring directly at Itachi as the latter was reading a book. "Did you have a nice nap, Sasuke" Itachi said all of a sudden. "Don't ask irrelevant things" said Sasuke. "You could've used the door" said Itachi, flipping a page. "Oh? Weren't you the one that deliberately left the window open for me, hate to waste the effort" said Sasuke in an almost sarcastic tone "Because if I didn't, you'd break it to get in" said Itachi. "Then why did you tell me to use the door" said Sasuke.

"I didn't, I just told you that you could. I never said that you should" Itachi looked up from his book to his brother and gave him a smile. "Sakura's ward is deeper in the west wing, so you don't have to worry about going too close to her since this is the east wing" said Itachi. Sasuke huffed and turned away "Who said I was worried about that"

"Your big brother knows everything" said Itachi with a chuckle. Sasuke's expression fell as he leaned back against the wall, hands in his pockets. "So you heard about Sakura" said Sasuke. "I bumped into your teacher" Itachi said with a smile. Sasuke looked at him, eyes serious as it narrowed on his brother. "You know, don't you." it was more of a statement than a question.

Itachi raised his eyebrows "Know what?" he asked, though there was nothing genuine about his tone. "About what's happening to me" said Sasuke. "What makes you think anything is happening to you" said Itachi. Sasuke glared at his brother "Don't play dumb, nii-san! I could've killed Sakura back there, so why didn't I" snapped Sasuke.

Itachi sighed slightly "I've read through your memory extraction while you were taking your little nap. Your seal overwhelmed you and thus triggering a state of bloodlust. Orochimaru said that your seal needed maintenance when really you just needed a stronger control and it just so happens that our sharingan has control abilities but when your seal became too powerful for you to control, you lost it. So for you to regain control, you needed something more powerful than the Sharingan." said Itachi, he glanced over at his brother, expecting his realization.

"The Mangekyou Sharingan" Sasuke acknowledged

Itachi looked back down to his sheets "To awaken your mangekyou a state of great mental stress is necessary. That's why when you asked me how to achieve the mangekyou I told you to kill your best friend, I was being serious. Because it is in the human nature for our minds to react violently when we kill someone we're close to with our own two hands, therefore the mental stress helps to trigger our Mangekyou. This method doesn't work for just anyone with the Sharingan though." said Itachi. Sasuke frowned at the ground; he had always thought that his brother was lying to him about the way to achieve the mangekyou simply because he didn't want to tell him. "So when I thought that Sakura was dead, I snapped" Sasuke added. "Precisely"

"However you are still not safe from the seal, its power will continue to grow and if you don't become stronger, even with the mangekyou as it is, I'd say you have control for approximately 5 years" said Itachi. "Then teach me" Sasuke said as he looked up to meet the eyes of his brother "Teach me how to use the Mangekyou" he added.

Itachi smirked "Alright, but it's not going to be easy. And don't expect Tsunade-sama to grant you access to see Sakura just because you can use the mangekyou" said Itachi. Sasuke looked slightly crestfallen but he pulled himself back together nonetheless "I didn't think it was possible in the first place"

Amused at his brother's depressed state, Itachi smiled "Don't worry about it, Sasuke. Tsunade-sama's not a heartless monster, she'll let you see her soon enough" said Itachi. "She might not be but I was" Sasuke muttered, looking bitter. "At least now you have more time to spend with your dear brother" said Itachi. Sasuke scoffed "Dear brother my ass"

Meanwhile...

Tsunade was called in by a frantic nurse to Sakura's ward. She stepped into her student's room to find her heartbeats rising. A symptom of consciousness. Tsunade told the nurse to leave them alone as she sat by Sakura's bedside, prepared to tell her everything.

Sakura began to stir, her eyes clenched close before they opened, blinking multiple times. Sakura pushed herself to sit up slowly before Tsunade placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling her muscles tense. "You shouldn't get up yet, Sakura" Tsunade told her. Sakura's eyes were hazy as she looked towards Tsunade "Shishou...?" she said in a soft voice.

"Yeah, I'm here" said Tsunade with a soft smile.

"Where are you...?"

The blood in Tsunade ran cold, eyes widened and her fingers tightened on Sakura's shoulder. Sakura reached out to feel the air in front of her, as if looking for Tsunade. Tsunade took her hands with her trembling own. "Why is it so dark in here" Sakura asked. Tsunade clenched her teeth bitterly, Sakura had become blind? Refusing to accept it, she placed a finger on Sakura's forehead as a string of chakra connected. Tsunade's frown deepened as she couldn't find anything wrong with her eyes.

So why couldn't she see?

Tsunade could see a look of realization on Sakura's face as she let go of Tsunade's hand to touch her own face, Sakura felt for her eyes.

She was blind.

* * *

**DUNDUN DUUUUUN! **

**Now, to activate the next chapter. YOU must answer me, these riddles three.**

**Number 1:**

**We hurt without moving.  
We poison without touching.  
We bear the truth and the lies.  
We are not to be judged by our size.**

What are we?

**Number 2:**

**What word is shorter when you add two letters to it?**

**Number 3:**

**What travels around the world but stays in one corner?**


	19. Trauma

**I'm feeling generous today, and also, Easter is coming! Enjoy and review!**

* * *

**Trauma **

It's been about week since the incident and since Sakura found that that she lost her sight. Tsunade had done a full body assessment on her and found that there's nothing defective or severely damaged beyond repair in her body and concluded that Sasuke's sharingan must've caused mental trauma to her brain, causing a failure in a part of her nervous system that was probably linked to her sight therefore causing her to temporarily lose her ability to see.

However Tsunade wasn't able to accurately estimate the duration of her blindness and she didn't want to use anymore healing technique that involved chakra with Sakura as the Yin seal healing technique has a critical stress impact to the body, if it just so happens that Sakura's body happened to be already on the limit, she could destroy Sakura's whole chakra system. So she decided to retain Sakura in the hospital till her sight has returned.

But to Sakura, her sight was the least of her problems.

_Flashback_

_All thoughts of her blindness were pushed aside as Sakura turned towards Tsunade, eyes faded and blank but nonetheless she knew Tsunade was there. "Where's Sasuke?" she asked immediately, taking Tsunade by surprise. Tsunade clenched her fists 'She's asking for the person that did this to her...?' _

_Some part of Tsunade was already expecting this but she didn't think it was right for Sakura to be more worried about Sasuke than herself. So she decided to give it to her straight "Sakura, you are no longer allowed to see Sasuke for as long as you're in here" said Tsunade._

_Sakura looked devastated "W-Why...? He didn't do anything wrong! Is he alright?" Sakura asked, part of her wanted to reach out and take Tsunade by the shoulder and shake answers from her, but she found that particularly hard to do in the dark. _

_She heard Tsunade get up from her chair, her footsteps walking towards the door "As he is now, he is a threat to you and possibly even to the village. This is a safety precaution for you, and that's my final decision." said Tsunade slid the door open._

_"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura called out, she attempted to get out of bed only to end up tumbling down onto the ground with her arm tangled in her drip tubes. Tsunade's head snapped around to see Sakura struggling to get back up on the floor. "Sakura!" she scolded, immediately running over to her student. "What are you trying to pull, Sakura! You're still a patient here, my patient!" Tsunade tried to help her up back Sakura kept going on about wanting to see Sasuke. _

_"I have to see him, even if it's just a little while." she muttered, hands trembling as Tsunade pulled her up by the elbow, making her upper body straighten up. "I need to see him!" Sakura snapped, Tsunade grabbed her by the wrist and forced Sakura to face her. "Sakura, you can't see!" _

_Sakura's eyes widened, filled with tears as she lowered her head. Tsunade pulled her into a hug, allowing her student to sob into her shoulder "Please..." _

_Tsunade's brow furrowed and she clenched her teeth. No matter how Sakura begged she couldn't allow Sakura to see Sasuke- it was for her own protection. _

A few days after that Sakura continued to refuse to eat but gradually she began to accept the fact that Sasuke wasn't coming. She had trouble sleeping as well mainly because the darkness reminded her of the cave back in Iwagakure however she had forced herself to get used to that too. She wanted to get better quickly so she could leave the hospital and see Sasuke.

Meanwhile...

Sasuke was having theory lessons from Itachi and due to his brother being hospitalized he was having his mangekyo lessons in his brother's ward till he gets chased out by a nurse.

Itachi hit Sasuke's head with a book "You're not concentrating enough, Sasuke" said Itachi as he circled around Sasuke who had his eyes closed and his hand holding a hand seal. Sasuke twitched and was immediately hit on the head with Itachi's book. "If you can't hold your chakra in your eyes you won't be able to bring out your mangekyou properly" said Itachi.

Sasuke was usually quick with learning how to concentrate but he suspected his brother was probably too worried about Sakura to put his mind fully into training.

Itachi sighed "Why don't we take a break, Sasuke. There's something I want to talk about" said Itachi. Sasuke released the hand sign and opened his eyes.

"What is it"

"Sakura"

Sasuke looked taken aback and he visibly swallowed but quickly tried to brush it off. He scowled "What about her" said Sasuke.

Itachi chuckled then sat down on his bed "Your reaction already told me everything I need to know" he said. Sasuke glared at his brother, silently demanding to know what he was thinking.

"As you are now, you aren't capable of drawing out the mangekyou, unless you want to go through _that_ again" said Itachi.

"Tch" Sasuke eyes strayed to the side.

"I bet you know the cause as well. With Sakura swarming your mind, you can't get past the first stage" said Itachi.

"Then I'll stop thinking about her" snapped Sasuke.

Itachi raised his eyebrows "Oh? Haven't you already tried doing that? And considering the results I'm guessing that didn't work too well for you" his tone sounded like mockery but his eyes showed otherwise.

Sasuke glared at his brother. He can't get anything past his brother, he knew that, but this was just his way of telling Itachi that he doesn't want to go down this conversation.

However this time Itachi wasn't so merciful. "If you are incapable of getting rid of a single woman from your life, I'm withdrawing from coaching you how to use the mangekyou, you may come back once you've forgotten about Sakura." said Itachi. Sasuke's eyes widened, his brother had never sounded so threatening to him in his life.

"You can't be serious, nii-san" Sasuke challenged Itachi's eyes and immediately knew, his brother was dead serious.

"So I'm just supposed to forget her? Pretend like she doesn't exist? Don't say it like it's so simple, you don't even understand!" Sasuke was angry, angry that Itachi would actually suggest such a thing.

"I wish I don't, Sasuke!" Itachi snapped, never once had his brother raised his voice on him, till this day.

Sasuke's brow furrowed, did his brother just tell him that he has a lover, or rather-_ Had _a lover.

"You never mentioned her" Sasuke walked over quietly to sit on the chair next to his brother's bed.

Itachi chuckled bitterly "You never asked, what's the point of bringing up someone that's already dead anyway." he said.

Sasuke scanned his brother's facial expression. It was nothing like he had ever seen before, Itachi's eyes looked so weary. He didn't even look like that after a 6 month mission away from Konoha.

"Then I'm asking you right now" said Sasuke. Itachi looked up and met his brother's eyes, he wiped the weary look from his face and try to replace it with his usual stoic and feint cheerful expression however his eyes gave him away.

"Amaterasu, that was her name. Named after the goddess of the sun, a very befitting name for her" a visible smile crossed Itachi's lips. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, an actual genuine smile.

"Yes, she also shares the same name as the black flames that we can summon with the mangekyou. Ironically she never achieved her mangekyou" said Itachi.

"So she was in the clan?" asked Sasuke.

Itachi nodded. "What happened to her?"

Itachi "Our team was sent to gather Intel on the enemy camp but we were ambushed"

_9 years ago (This happened after Itachi and Sasuke's parents died)_

_Konoha sent out a team for information retrieval at the Kumogakure's camp 45 degrees south of the village. The team consisted of Itachi's old genin teammates. _

_Itachi and Shisui were already in the ANBU ranks, Amaterasu had just recently achieved jounin. "Amaterasu, keep up" Itachi called over his shoulder. Amaterasu was a girl with gleaming ink black hair that flowed down to her thighs with bangs that swept across her forehead. She wore her hitai-ate over her head like a hair band. Her eyes were like any Uchiha, the darkest shade of black with the gleam of an onyx. She wore a traditional white kimono top with golden linings and a mesh tube on the inside with a pair of black tights- typical for any shinobi her age. Her sleeves were much longer than her arm, flowing like a river behind her as she ran. _

_"Oh? I thought we were in a formation, my bad" she said and shot off with her next step on the branch, shooting past Shisui who was travelling behind Itachi. "Coming through, Shisui-kun" she said with a smug look on her face and shot through Itachi with ease. _

_"Now you're just showing off" said Itachi with a smirk on his face. _

_"You're the one that provoked her, Itachi" Shisui said. Amaterasu turned her head around and pulled down on her lower lid whilst sticking her tongue out. _

_"Real mature" Itachi rolled his eyes. _

_If only they knew what was up ahead. _

_Amaterasu activated her sharingan, eyes narrowing on the path in front of them. There was just something suspicious about that path, she didn't sense any chakra nearby but it just felt wrong. "Itachi, are we on the right track?" said Amaterasu, glancing back at Itachi. _

_"Positive, we should reach the base soon, keep your guard up" said Itachi. _

_"But there's something weird about this route, I think we should take a detour" said Amaterasu. Itachi activated his sharingan and scanned the surroundings ahead._

_"There's nothing there, Amaterasu. We can't take a detour, it'll take too long. The enemy could be gone by the time we reach" said Itachi. _

_"A little detour wouldn't hurt, it might save us the trouble of bumping into someone" said Shisui. _

_Itachi shook his head "We're not straying from this path" he said. _

_And before they know it, they had stepped into the enemy territory. A strange sensation rushed through them. They halted immediately, landing on different tree branches to inspect the trap with Amaterasu first and Shisui last. "Genjutsu?" said Shisui. _

_"Appears so, dispel it" Itachi ordered._

_"Kai!" The three of them said in unison_

_However the sensation lingered. They were still not free from the trap. "It's powerful" said Shisui. Amaterasu frowned, her sharingan on guard as she looked around in silence. And then she realized what they were trapped in. But she realized that too late. _

_"Shisui-kun! Itachi! It's a trap! Retreat as far away as possible!"Amaterasu shouted all of the sudden. Itachi and Shisui's bodies reacted instinctively and turned and ran the opposite direction with Amaterasu close behind, she looked down and realized that the technique had caught up, with one hard push. She sent Itachi flying out of the trap's range. _

_A barrier shot up in between her and her teammates, trapping her within. Itachi regained his footing and turned back, eyes widened "Tera!" he shouted frantically as Amaterasu looked at him apologetically from the inside of the barrier. Her palms on the transparent yellow wall. Itachi hammered on the wall, attempting to break it with force and soon realized it to be impossible. His sharingan activated and he scanned the barrier for any weak links and when he couldn't find one he decided to be rash "Get back!" Itachi shouted before he threw kunais with explosive tags attached to them. _

_They went off one by one but it had no effect on the barrier. "Itachi, they're coming!" Shisui shouted to his teammate as he armed himself._

_"I'm not leaving her!" Itachi shouted, and then looked back at Amaterasu, still trapped like a rat. Instead of crying hysterically for her life, she was smiling-Smiling at him. _

_"Run, Itachi. I'll try to stall them" she said, her hand slid from the wall and down to reach for her pouch, arming herself. _

_Itachi looked at her hopelessly, his mind was in panic. He was crowned a genius by the whole clan, he always knew what to do, he always followed orders and he never panicked under whatever circumstances and here he is, wracking his genius brain for a plan- A plan that had a happy ending. _

_He couldn't think of one. _

_Frustrated, he drew his weapon. If they couldn't break the technique then they just have to kill the user. "Shisui, get ready. We're going to fight our way out" said Itachi. Shisui had never seen his best friend so distressed but he didn't argue and took his stance. _

_He heard the bark snapping from branches, leaves rustling with movement. They were here and, a hell lot of them._

_"Oh? Gimura's trap only caught one rat? Guess we'll have to take care of these brats manually." A kumogakure nin said and signaled the shinobi to attack Itachi and Shisui. Itachi was quick, everything that came close ended up bleeding to death on the ground, his sharingan glowed fiercely in the dark-making sure there are no survivors. _

_Itachi went for the commander, raining the superior with kunais and shuriken. All it took for the latter to deflect the projectiles was a simple swing from his arm as his eyes never leaving Itachi who drew his kodachi (Short sword). Their blades collided, however the kumo commander's strength had proven to be superior when Itachi couldn't hold his ground against and had to push off to land on a branch behind him. _

_"Throwing weapons to direct your opponent's attention away from yourself so that you may land a fatal blow on them is a very good tactic. But you're still naive, kid" _

_Itachi's brows furrowed before he heard a voice."Itachi the numbers are increasing too fast!" he heard his best friend call out to him. Itachi glared at the commander, preparing to engulf him in a genjutsu but the commander was moving faster than his reflexes could respond even with his sharingan activated._

_Itachi's eyes widened before finally managing to dodge a fatal lariat by ducking down and pumping chakra to his feet to prevent himself from being blown off by the mere force of the attack, he gritted his teeth then shot off to increase the distance between them._

_It was then he heard an ear piercing scream. "Tera!" his head snapped away from the enemy and eyes straining to see what happened to his teammate. "Itachi look out!" Shisui shouted. Itachi's head turned back to dodge a slash from the commander. _

_Amaterasu's hand had been pinned over her head by a rod against a tree inside the barrier. Another man stood in front of her, holding a scythe similar to the death god's. "The more you struggle, the more it's going to hurt" said the man with silver hair and a foul look in his eyes. The way he looked at her made her feel like he was looking at some kind of animal in test labs. _

_"Feel honored, you're about to go to hell through my new technique, you'll be the first sacrifice" the man, he laughed maniacally before Amaterasu lifted her knee, ready to send him ramming against the barrier wall but the man blocked it with his palm. He looked at her, eyes glaring and angry. Amaterasu didn't breakdown, instead she pulled back her leg and swung the other. Determined to do everything she can without her hands. _

_The next kick collided with his side and sent him stumbling to the side, coughing blood as he clutched a possible broken rib. He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, eyes widening at the sight of blood. "You... bitch" he spat with all his might before he thrusted his palm at the rod pinning her hands. Screwing the rod through deeper. Amaterasu's body tensed up as she bit back a yelp._

_"Stubborn, aren't you" the man licked her blood off his hands before pressing the scythe against her neck. "Even if you cry and beg for your life I won't show mercy" he snarled into Amaterasu's face._

_Slowly his face began to change; his skin turned black and white marks appeared all over his body making him look like a human skeleton. Amaterasu's eyes widened, she couldn't figure out what was happening and before she knew it, the silver haired man was sent flying to the side. Amaterasu felt pain ringing in her ribs as she gasped for air. _

_Her vision blurred for a moment but she could still make out Itachi dashing past her, going after her attacker. She blinked a few times and looked around, the barrier had been broken. She spotted a lifeless body lying near her; Itachi must've found the user. _

_But what was that blast of pain she felt? _

_The silver haired man laughed as Itachi landed multiple blows to his body, all in which sent him tumbling backwards. His skin turned black once again, Itachi slashed across his chest, Blood spurting. _

_Amaterasu gasped, her chest trembled as she looked down. Blood seeped from her top in the form of a slash but by the time she realized it, it was already too late. "Ita-" she called out to her teammate before she was cut off halfway as Itachi had sunk his kunai into the silver man's heart. _

_But instead of crying out in pain, he began uncontrollable laughter. Itachi scowled "Congratulations my brother" he looked at Itachi then a wide grin broke out on his lips "You've just killed your comrade" he said before his eyes widened as blood escaped through the side of his mouth and he fell forward, laying motionlessly on the ground._

_Itachi's eyes widened and he immediately looked to Amaterasu. She could barely keep her body from dangling by her pinned hands as her own blood pooled at her feet. Itachi didn't waste another second, he hurried to her side, the first thing he did was free her from the rod. "Bear with this for a while" Itachi muttered to her before ripping the rod clean out and allowing Amaterasu to collapse on him. He held her close as listened to her uneven breathing._

_"Itachi" she began but he cut her off. _

_"We're going to get you out of here and back to Konoha. Don't die on me, that is an order, Tera!" he said, trying to sound firm like he usually does but it only painfully reminded him that he was the one that led the team- he was the one that led them into a trap. His arms tighten around her as he looked towards Shisui who was busy holding out the army. He opened his mouth to call out to his best friend before he felt Amaterasu squirm in his hold. He knelt down and laid her down, trying his best to keep her comfortable."What is it, Tera?" _

_Amaterasu reached up to Itachi's face with her trembling bloody hand. "It's alright, Itachi." she breathed as she stroked Itachi's cheek, staining it with her blood. A smile broke out upon her features, eyes squinted and tears gathering. "Sorry for pushing you" she said as tears trickled down her cheeks. _

_Itachi grabbed her hand and held it gently then laughed softly "What are we, in pre-school?" he said. Amaterasu smiled at him. He brought their linked hands to his forehead and smearing blood onto his headband and the symbol of konoha; weeping bitterly as he said "I'm sorry, if I had listened to you back then you wouldn't have gotten trapped. If I had properly analyzed the enemy, you would-" he cut himself off when Amaterasu's head rested against his shoulder as he held her. _

_"Don't blame yourself, Itachi" her voice had faded to nothing more than a hoarse whisper. _

_"I'm so tired..." she said with a bitter chuckle. _

"_Tera, don't-" _

_Amaterasu hushed him. "It's okay, Itachi. I'm alright" she gave him a bitter smile yet it radiated with the warmth that had always surrounded her. Tears began to build in her eyes as her smile twisted into a look of fear and sadness as she tried to maintain her smile as she said-_

_"I love you, Itachi"_

_Her hand slipped away from Itachi's and fell to the ground. Itachi hugged her body close "Me too, Tera... I always have" he wept silently. He felt her pulse cease and his trembling fingers reached up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear as he said "Tera...?" his eyes widened and his voice wavering as he gave her body a gentle shake and when no respond came, he broke. _

_"Amaterasu!" _

_The silver haired man pushed himself up "Damn, is this technique still too early for me...?" he looked up and saw Itachi getting back up, head hung low. His eyes looked upon the limp body of Amaterasu and instantly his face lit up, he laughed "Serves you right, you bastard. She's dead now! It's your entire fault!" he spat as he pulled out the kunai that Itachi stabbed into his heart._

_In a split second Itachi's head snapped around, his eyes looking wild as black flames shot at him. Instinctively he jumped out of the way. The attack had still lightly grazed over his left leg, sending scorching pain throughout his body. He gritted his teeth as he grabbed at his leg. _

_Itachi went out of control that night, had it not been for Shisui using his own Mangekyou to counter Itachi's, he would've destroyed the forest. With all the enemies dead, Itachi and Shisui returned to the village with the corpse of their teammate. Shisui could do nothing but watch as his best friend held onto his unrequited love's body with a cold and distant expression; he knew then that this would change Itachi forever._

_Extra…_

_A squadron of ANBU shinobi from Kumogakure was sent to search for the mission squadron and found everyone except for the commander, dead. "Raikage! Are you alright?" the squadron leader asked. "Yeah... but those damn Uchihas really did a number on our division." The commander or otherwise known as the Third Raikage said. "This is why we were against you leaving the village" the squadron leader said._

"_If I weren't here then they wouldn't have even stood a chance and they'd go straight into our camp borders" the Raikage snapped. Their conversation was interrupted when a few members of the ANBU called out. "Sir! We found a live one" _

_"He's a Yugakure-nin" _

_"Identify yourself" The raikage stood before the silver headed man._

_"Hidan" _

_End_

This felt really weird for Sasuke, because he and his brother has never had a soul to soul talk like this before and it's kind of creeping him out. He didn't know what to do or what to say, he just sat there- listening.

"I was the team leader for that mission, but I was too naive. And that naivety led to the death of her and not only that but Shisui had left before me as well, due some issues arising within the clan he decided to stop it, but it cost him his life. My only regrets were that I couldn't save them when they were so close within my reach and I let them get away. I sometimes wonder if they really slipped past my fingers, or I simply let go" Itachi said as he looked at his hands, they were trembling.

Sasuke shot up from his seat "You did everything you could; there was nothing else you could do for them. I'm sure of it. Beating yourself up like this isn't like you, nii-san" Sasuke snapped.

Itachi looked up at his brother with a smile "I think it's time for you to take your own advice, Sasuke" Itachi said. Sasuke had just realized that he had just said what everyone had been trying to tell him. "I don't want any more regrets, Sasuke. I'd hate to see you go through what I've been through. I don't want you to regret anything" Itachi said.

Sasuke realized what he had to do, what he _needed_ to do. Itachi gave him a nod "Go for it"

In Sakura's little ward she sat upright in her bed, she looked to be staring off into space and because of her blinded eyes her thoughts could no longer reflect in her eyes.

Ever since she had calmed down, her loss of sight has made her body to become more sensitive to her environment, especially on her chakra sensory. She could feel every shinobi in the village, the ones that left for missions, the ones that are simply resting at home however she could barely differentiate the chakra signatures of an individual. She couldn't even recognize who was in her room unless they spoke. She knew that there were guards standing outside her room, they change shifts in pairs every 6 hours. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't tell who was it that was standing outside her room.

However there was a certain person she felt connected to, his chakra signature kept on lingering in the back of her mind, surfacing every once in awhile, but that person-

_wasn't in the village._

For some reasons Sakura could sit still in that exact same position for the whole day and she wouldn't even move if not for the nurses that constantly come in to check on her and help her eat and bring her to the bathroom.

And then she felt it, another chakra approaching her room. But it wasn't time for the guard change, this person was alone. It couldn't be a nurse, it wasn't her meal time nor was it the time for the nurse to check on her.

Outside...

Sasuke approached the ward that he had been forbidden for him. He came in face to face with the one person he didn't want to see the most. His face remained neutral at his eyes met the piercing golden glare of _him._

"You dare show up here, in front of me"

"I'm not here to see you, Hiroyama"

"Sasuke, you should go" Naruto gave Sasuke a serious look, but his warning was over looked as Sasuke and Takuya already knew what they had to do. To get to Sakura, he needed to get pass Takuya. And Takuya was planning to use this as the chance to beat the living daylights out of Sasuke to avenge Sakura.

"Under hokage's order, I am allowed to beat the crap out of you till you leave. That is, _if _I let you leave." snarled Takuya. Naruto stepped in "Oi, Takuya. Sasuke was just going to leave, right? Sasuke" said Naruto, shooting firm looks at Sasuke. Sasuke didn't budge. Takuya pushed past Naruto and struck, grabbing Sasuke by the front of his shirt and slamming his back against the wall, snarling dangerously.

Sasuke merely stared back at his glare, not even making the effort to move a muscle. "Just let me see her" Sasuke said, his voice was almost pleading. Naruto wasn't used to seeing Sasuke like this, no matter how desperate the situation got for him, Sasuke _never _pleaded.

Something seemed to have snapped in Takuya, his eyes widened and he swung a clenched fist at Sasuke, catching the Uchiha's jaw and snapping his head to the side. Sasuke looked back up slow, Takuya's eyes still fixated on him. "You bastard..." Takuya said through clenched teeth, "After putting Sakura-chan through that, you can still come back and _see _her?" he raised his voice slightly with a bitter tone. "Because of you, she can no longer see"

Sasuke's eyes widened "What do you mean?" grabbing Takuya by the wrist. Takuya's fingers tightened "It's all your fault! I shouldn't have left her with you!" Takuya snapped. Sasuke glanced at Naruto, his blond best friend gave him a sorry look.

"Tsunade baa-chan said that Sakura-chan lost her sight due to brain trauma, she doesn't know when she'll be able to see again" said Naruto.

Sasuke's blood ran cold, brain trauma sounded a lot like his work. He broke out from Takuya's hold and tried to push his way to Sakura's door. "Just me talk to her, a minute will do" but Sasuke's path was cut off by Takuya

"I'll send you flying through the wall"

Suddenly, Sasuke felt the air tension rising to the point of suffocation, sensing danger, his body instinctively activated his sharingan and somehow managed to counter the technique Takuya was using. It was a battle between kekkei genkais for them.

"Break it up, you guys-" Naruto was cut off when a muscle twitched they had each drawn their kunai, Naruto drew his as well in case it got out of hand.

But the tension was broken when they heard crashing and chaos inside the ward.

"Sakura!" Takuya exclaimed

Panicked, the male shinobis were about to break the door down before it slid open on its own and Sakura stumbled out, just barely on her feet.

Sasuke's eyes widened when she tripped out of the door right in front of him, he felt his arms enveloping her and her head pressing against his chest as he bent down to catch her before she could fall. Realization struck upon her features as she recognized the person's touch and scent. She wrapped her hands around and gripped onto the back of his shirt. "Sasuke...!" she spoke into his chest.

Sasuke stood still, knees still bent and hands around Sakura. Not quite knowing what to say.

"It's really you right, Sasuke?" said Sakura, her words muffled in his chest.

"Yeah" Sasuke replied gently.

Sakura straightened, along with Sasuke. But she did not look up like she usually does, probably because it'd be pointless. Sasuke took this as the confirmation of her blindness and bitterly cursed himself silently.

"There has been complaints by the nurses here, now I see why"

That voice, Sakura's grip on Sasuke tightened. "Tsu-Tsunade baa-chan...!" gasped Naruto. Tsunade stood in the middle of the hallway, arms crossed and a frown on her face. Sakura pulled out from Sasuke's arms and stood in front of him

"Please don't send Sasuke away" Sakura scowled at her teacher, not even sure if she was looking at her in person.

"I figured you'd be coming around now, Sasuke" said Tsunade. A wry smile formed on Sasuke's face as he met her eyes and stepped out from behind Sakura.

"Then you should know that I'm not going to leave"

Tsunade snorted "I'm assigning you as her body guard, she probably needs you most now." said Tsunade, a smirk forming on her face. "Take care of her, Sasuke" said Tsunade as she turned on her heels. "Naruto, Takuya. You're off duty" she said as she walked. Her orders were direct and Naruto, a little weirded out by what just happened, chased after Tsunade along with Takuya.

Sasuke stood still, not quite able to register just yet till he felt a tug on his sleeve by Sakura. "Are you okay? Sasuke" Sakura asked quietly.

"I'm fine, lets get you back to bed" he said as he gave her a gentle push and when she took a reluctant step forward he was reminded of her lack of sight. He took both of her hands and stood in front of her as he took careful steps inside the room as he led her in then closed the door."Careful" he said as he connected their hands once again and continued to lead her, Sakura nodded as she took another step forward, followed by another.

A bitter scowl formed on Sasuke's face as he sees Sakura's blank stare in front. Sakura continued walking till she bumped into Sasuke. Her eyes widened slightly when she felt Sasuke wrap his arms around her in a hug, his face pressed into the crook of her neck and breathed, sending chills down her spine. Sakura stood still, hands at her side, chin on his shoulder.

"Sa...suke?" she said, sounding worried. "Are you unwell?"

"I'm fine, I'm perfectly fine. I wish I wasn't though, after all I did to you" his voice was hoarse. Sakura wriggled out from Sasuke's hold and grabbed hold of his face, making him look at her. Surprised, Sasuke stared deeply into her eyes that were slightly squinted because of her scowl

"Don't wish for something like that!" she scolded him. "I'm still alive, aren't I? You came back." Sakura gave him a smile "Even I can take a beating from the great Uchiha Sasuke" she said, teasingly.

Sasuke smirked "About that" he said before grabbing her and tossing her on the bed then holding her down by her shoulders, leaning over and placing his face dangerously close to her face "Didn't I make you promise to kill me if I ever go out of control again?" he said.

Sakura could tell he was close by the brush of his warm breath. "S-S-Sasuke? You're too c-close" Sakura stammered as she tried to wriggle out from his grip on her shoulders.

"I didn't take you for a person who doesn't keep their word" Sasuke said, lips just lingering over her uncovered neck, his warm breath creating a tension in her muscles.

"I-I" Sakura turned a variety of red as her breathing hitched.

"I'll punish you for lying to me" Sasuke whispered huskily, holding back a chuckle at the flustered Sakura.

"W-What?" Sakura squirmed.

Sasuke planted a kiss to her jaw line. She gasped at the contact.

"Wa-Wait a minute, S-Sasuke" Sakura tilted her head back, whether opening up neck to Sasuke or trying to get away from him. She herself wondered.

"I didn't even make that promise, I just said I trusted you to come-" Sakura was cut off as Sasuke gently lowered his lips down on hers. Her eyes drifting close instinctively as Sasuke deepened the kiss then pulled away to kiss neck. Sakura gasped and tried to push him away "S-Sasuke someone's coming" she said. Reluctantly, Sasuke straightened and smirked as Sakura fumbled to sit up right.

There was a knock on the door and the nurse came in, surprised at Sasuke's presence, Sasuke turned his head to look at the nurse at the door to acknowledge her presence when met eyes with someone he didn't expect to be Sakura's nurse. "Sasuke-kun?"

For the first time, Sakura heard the voice of her nurse. She had never spoken to her nurse because she didn't seem to be able to concentrate on anything else other than trying to figure out just whose chakra was it that kept on showing up in her system, that faint presence she could always feel.

"I-Ino?" said Sakura, recognizing the voice immediately. However Ino ignored her and focus on Sasuke's presence when she knew he wasn't allowed near Sakura.

"What are you doing here?" she snarled in a threatening tone.

"I-Ino it's-" however Sakura was cut off when Ino raised her voice. "You're not supposed to be here, Sasuke-kun." Ino sounded angry as she placed the tray on food roughly on the table.

Sasuke remained silent, he knew he was going to be up against a lot of people after what he had done to Sakura and then selfishly request to see her again.

"Sakura may have forgiven you but I don't. It's your entire fault, you did this to her!" Ino was shouting now, her fist clenched and shaking.

"She can't even recognize my chakra anymore" her tone turned bitter and her voice was wavering. "I'll never forgive you"

"Ino, Tsunade-sama assigned Sasuke as my bodyguard" Sakura's tone was flat and a little demanding, probably not wanting Ino to say anymore and silently asking her to leave. Seeming to get the message Ino stormed out of the room, slamming the door roughly behind her. Sakura felt horrible, she knew Ino was just worried about her, she had no ill intentions towards her at all and yet she sent away the one person that had silently took care of her when she couldn't do anything at all.

But she couldn't just sit aside while she yelled at Sasuke for something she thinks he shouldn't be blamed for. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I'm so sorry" she clenched a handful of her sheets as tears began to drip from her blank eyes. Overwhelmed by tears she lifted her hands to wipe away her tears and try to hide them but it was in vain when Sasuke felt a piece of him die when her timid voice apologized to him when she really shouldn't.

"Why are you apologizing" he asked her as he slowly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.

"I-If I had been stronger then I would've been a-able to help you, instead of getting hurt and making you take the blame. It's really n-not your fault, Sasuke. So you don't have to blame yourself for it" Sakura sobbed into his chest. Sasuke's arms suddenly tightened around he and he buried his face into her hair.

"You're a really good girl, Sakura. You know that?" he whispered hoarsely, his voice sounded like he was in pain. "But don't cover for everyone by blaming yourself, especially not for jerks like me. It's fine. Punishment if the last thing I'm worried about now." his bitter words were muffled in her hair in the end.

But Sakura stopped crying, shocked that that was how Sasuke was feeling she had no idea what else to say. They stayed in that silence for what seemed like ages, just enjoying each other's company like no one else existed.

As a matter of fact, someone _did _exist and they were standing just outside the room, eavesdropping on every word. Ino walked down the hallway, quietly.

Naruto and Takuya stuck close to Tsunade's heels, still demanding to know why she allowed Sasuke near Sakura when he's a potential danger to her. "Fifth, this isn't right. How can you let that Uchiha become Sakura's bodyguard. Is there some reason for this?" Takuya demanded.

"It's because he came back" she said.

"Hah? I don't see how that proves anything for that jerk" Takuya retorted.

"Shut up, Takuya." Naruto snapped.

Takuya shot a scowl at the blonde before Tsunade spoke. "I wouldn't have let him near her if he hadn't come back for her when she needed him the most. I told him that actions would be taken against him to try and scare him, to arouse some hesitation in him. If he allowed such a thing to slip in between his relationship with Sakura then I would have never allowed him to see Sakura ever again. However he came back, despite knowing that the whole village is aware of his sentence and that he will be standing against them to get to Sakura." said Tsunade, she looked at Takuya's shocked face from the corner of her eye.

"When you were picking a fight with Sasuke, he didn't once try to fight back- till you mentioned Sakura's blindness. What Sakura really needs now, is him."

* * *

**So what did you think of Itachi's past? Amaterasu is an OC by the way, for those of you who don't know. In the manga Itachi was said to have a lover before he massacred his entire clan. But since this is a fanfic, I decided to change it up a little. I know some of you may not like it but it was the best I could do. Anyway, review and leave your thoughts about Amaterasu :3**


	20. Mending Memories

**Just some fluff up ahead! **

* * *

**Mending Memories**

Sasuke had just left the hospital to gather a few of his things so that he could basically live in Sakura's ward until she's been released. Sakura insisted that she follow him but after a very one sided argument between Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura was left behind to wait patiently for Sasuke's return. She often turned her head towards the direction of the window, even though she couldn't see. Just to check for his presence.

Then she felt the door open. Instinctively she turned her head towards the sound, wondering if Sasuke decided to use the door but soon realized it to be the nurse, bring her meal in to her. "Ino? Is that you?" Sakura asked nervously as she lifted her hands to try and feel for the nurse. She heard a tray being set down before she felt the cold hand of her nurse. "Yeah, it's me"

Sakura's face brightened up and her fingers closed around Ino's hand. Suddenly the atmosphere became awkward as Sakura struggled to find the right words to say "I-Ino… About yesterday" she began. "Its fine, I understand" Ino cut in, giving Sakura's hand a little squeeze. Sakura smiled then sighed in relief.

"I was worried that you wouldn't want to talk to me anymore" said Sakura.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily" said Ino, earning a chuckle from Sakura. Ino hadn't realized just how much she missed her laugh and begrudgingly, she had to admit it was all thanks to Sasuke.

"I'll be sticking around until I see my godchildren" she proclaimed proudly and Sakura flushed.

"Don't you think that's a little too far ahead, Ino"

Ino thought for a moment "Maybe it is, but haven't you ever thought about it? A mini-version of Sasuke-kun would be so adorable" she squeal.

"If I were to have a child, I would want a girl." Sakura said.

"Same! Boys are so hard to control, you should've seen the guys when they were in the academy. They were so annoying" Ino huffed and Sakura laughed, practically hearing the pout in her best friend's voice

"I would've really liked to see a little Sasuke" Sakura sigh, smiling sheepishly.

"You can keep dreaming then" a voice suddenly sounded. Both girl gasped "Sasuke!" "Sasuke-kun" Sasuke dropped his little pack onto the floor and nodded slightly at Ino to acknowledge her presence before he turned around to close the window. "Geez, you know there's an invention called a door? It's a very magical thing, it sends you to different dimension- like a room" Ino snorted sarcastically.

"Good to know" he said, briefly.

"You just don't want the nurses to stare when you're walking in" Ino teased. Sakura seemed startled at that.

"But you told me that the nurses don't like you. You're a liar, Sasuke" Sakura in feint anger.

Sasuke scoffed "Everyone's trying to kill me wherever I go now, actually" said Sasuke.

"But you never mentioned anything about ogling nurses, I'll become an envious little hag, Sasuke" said Sakura.

"Wait, how do you even know that they were ogling? Ino only said there were staring" said Sasuke.

Sakura laughed "Whoops"

"You observe my visits when I come pick you up from work?" Sasuke asked, slightly peeved that she just stood by whilst he get bombarded with women.

"Sometimes, but I just watch you walk in through the main entrance, don't worry. I didn't follow you or anything" Sakura smiled sheepishly.

"Hah! You don't even need to observe him, just follow the nurses' squeals and they'll lead you right to him." Ino noted.

Sasuke's face scrunched up in distaste "Women" he muttered, disappointed at Sakura's lack of jealousy for him.

"You sound like Shikamaru now" Ino said. "Speaking of him, how are things going with you two" Sakura asked. Ino shrugged

"Shikamaru's pretty busy, with the code and Pein and all. They're trying to find out what sort of abilities Pein has so that we can plan a counterattack" Ino said.

"Sasuke, Is Itachi-" Sakura was cut off by Sasuke "He's awake now"

Surprised, Sakura wondered why wasn't she immediately informed of this. Itachi was, after all still her patient. Tsunade was probably trying to keep her in the dark to cut down her worries for her recoveries' sake but she never liked the dark.

"So it was really him I saw, walking around the corridors the other day" she said. All the talk of Itachi has reminded Sasuke of his postponed training with Itachi, he's already made up his mind to stay with Sakura till her sight returns. Until then, he refuses to let anyone else be her eyes. Ino stood abruptly.

"I better get going, my storage shift is starting soon" Ino said "Ugh, Storage shift" she complained.

Ino gave Sakura's shoulder a little pat before leaving "See ya later, Sakura"

"Alright"

And then the door rolled shut.

"How's Itachi-san doing" Sakura asked all of the sudden.

Sasuke rubbed the back of his head "He's doing fine, he's taking a break from the ANBU and providing information for the strategists" he said. They were suddenly brought back to the topic of Pein.

"How long has he been awake?" Sakura asked.

"Around the same time you were sent to the emergency room" he muttered quietly, not really wanting to continue down this topic.

They were silent.

Sasuke couldn't guess what Sakura was thinking, he stared at her. Hoping that she would say something, anything because he was getting a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Sasuke" she finally spoke.

"What is it?"

"I need to speak with Itachi-san." She said all of the sudden, looked rather impatient. "There's something that's been bothering me for the past week and I think that Itachi-san can help me with it" she said. A jealous frown was visibly shown on Sasuke's face as he said "Why would you need him for" he said.

Sakura gave him a wry smile "Are you really going be jealous of your brother, Sasuke?" she said with a small chuckle.

"I'm not-" he was cut off when Sakura tugged on his arm, making him bent over. Gently, she moved both her hands to cup his cheeks. Blindly aiming, Sakura managed to plant a quick peck on his lips.

She smiled "You'll always be special to me"

Sasuke doesn't blush, no matter how embarrassing the situation is, he scorns, glares and snaps but he never blushes- he was always composed. So why can't he seem to control his emotions whenever Sakura's involved. He stood there, stiff and blushing every shade of red possible to the human body.

Never had been so thankful that Sakura couldn't see right now.

"I'll go get him" Sasuke said reluctantly. Sakura gave him a victorious smile as he rolled his eyes._ The things you do for love. _

Sakura was left alone to her thoughts once again. _If it's Itachi-san then I might be able to get to the bottom of this. _She couldn't shake the feeling, she felt like she was being pushed into a corner whenever she tries to forget about that person's chakra. The world had never seemed so big.

She heard the door open a few minutes later; she straightened on bed and turned to the door on instinct, the world is still dark. "How are you, Sakura" she heard the gentle voice of Itachi. A smile spread across her face

"It's been awhile, Itachi-san. I don't remember giving you permission to be walking around after falling into a second stage coma" she said rather cheerfully but something in her tone send a chill down his spine as if he was being threatened.

"Aha…" Itachi exclaimed nervously "You're a brilliant doctor after all, I've already completely recovered" Itachi said. Sakura chuckled then she fell silent. "And? I don't suppose you asked for me just to scold me" Itachi said. Sakura nodded

"There is something I need to confirm" she paused "I might have a chakra linked to the leader of the akatsuki" she said.

Itachi's eyes widened when the leader of the akatsuki was mentioned, the same man that he couldn't beat- the same man that killed Jiraiya. His down casted his eyes and narrowed them bitterly at the ground at the growing feeling of guilt and helplessness that began to eat his insides at the memory.

"How do you know it's his chakra" Itachi asked quietly.

"Because I seem to have connected with a fragment of his chakra receptors when I was trying to stop your bleeding" she said "You had a 15 mm thick fragment, lodged into your left shoulder. My chakra had probably melded with the receptor, causing a reaction then forming a link due to my kaiho abilities. At least that's what I came up with, I could be wrong, that's why I was wondering if you could describe the shape of the leader's chakra to me and see if I could match it" Sakura said.

Itachi thought for a moment then moved to sit on Sakura's bed. "Rather than describe, there is a faster way of doing it" he said as he poked too fingers onto Sakura's forehead "Relax" he told her then glanced over at his anxious brother "You too, Sasuke" Itachi smirked.

Sasuke snorted then folded his arms.

Without Sakura's sight, Itachi couldn't link his sharingan directly to her brain therefore he needs to have physical contact to gain access. Using his sharingan, he entered her inner world, looking for that chakra link that is different from the rest. Due to Sakura's abnormally large range, he found it that particularly hard to do, nonetheless he was able to trace down the odd one out.

Itachi lowered his hand with a grave look on his face. "Indeed, that is the chakra of Akatsuki's leader, Pein." He said "Although the bond is not strong enough to pinpoint his location, I can see that his chakra grows restless, he might be coming for the kyuubi soon" he said.

Sakura's eyes widened "then the strategists need to know" she said, alarmed.

"I'll tell them, but before that. Sasuke, do you mind leaving us for a moment" Itachi said with a charming smile to Sasuke.

"Yes, I do mind" Sasuke answered immediately and stoically.

Itachi snorted "How do you put up with this possessiveness, Sakura" Itachi teased.

Sakura smiled "I find that feature very charming. But Sasuke, could you wait outside?" Sakura asked too sweetly. Sasuke didn't like being left out of conversations, especially when they seemed important but when Sakura gets serious, he just didn't want to disappoint her.

And so he left the room, albeit reluctantly.

Sakura waited till she heard the door slide close "This is about Sasuke, isn't it" she said.

Itachi smiled "Your loss of sight was caused by Sasuke" Itachi said all of the sudden.

"I'm well aware of that" Sakura answered with a straight face, not quite sure what he's trying to imply.

"Do you know why?" Itachi asked, Sakura wasn't sure if it was a rhetorical question but decided to answer it anyway.

"The nerves to my eyes were shut off from my brain due to a traumatic experience, either physically or mentally"

"Yes, but why?" Itachi asked again. Sakura frowned not quite understanding what he is getting at. "It was because of Sasuke's mangekyou sharingan" Itachi said. _Mangekyou_.

She had read about the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha. It was portrayed as one of the ultimate dojutsu technique but she had also read that the Sharingan had a stage two. The Mangekyou Sharingan, they didn't specify a fixed way on how to achieve it, but it was noted that it was a very rare occurrence. Only a mere handful of clan members were said to be able to achieve it but it was said that each pair of mangekyou have different abilities and techniques that makes the user unique.

"You're a clever girl, Sakura. I'm sure you've read about the mangekyou." Said Itachi. Sakura nodded. "Before you fell unconscious, Sasuke had probably unconsciously used his sharingan on you but halfway he had achieved his mangekyou and that caused a distorted connection between you two and then affected your nervous system, that should also be the reason why you can't differentiate chakra signatures now" he said.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked him.

"Because I want to take Sasuke away from you, at least for a month or so, until he learns to control his mangekyou" Itachi put it bluntly; Sakura's fingers clenched on her sheets.

Take Sasuke away from her? The mere thought of it has already made her feel lonely. Now she was the one being overly possessive, just this once she wants to be selfish and say no, but before she could say anything, Itachi cut in her thoughts.

"Sasuke's cursed seal is growing stronger by the day, it is either he masters his mangekyou and take control of his seal once and for all or it won't be long before he is overpowered by the seal again. Pein is coming, Sasuke needs to get stronger or else he won't last a second against him." said Itachi, he was right and Sakura knew that. Itachi was the only one in Konoha that has fought and lived after a fight with Pein, he has seen and experienced how strong Pein was and for someone of Itachi's calibur to sounds so defeated at the mention of his opponent's name would mean that _Konoha is in grave danger._

_Won't last a second?_

Sakura knew how strong Sasuke is, Sasuke could probably fight on equal footing with Kakashi now and he was probably one of the best shinobi in the village and to just be told that her teammate's chances against their enemy are zero to none, scared the lights out of her. Pein was a monster.

Sakura's brows furrowed "No one said he has to fight" Sakura retorted firmly, trying to sound strong but she knew she was wavering.

"And what happens when the time comes when he faces an enemy he can't handle? Can _you_ protect him?" Itachi was harsh, harsher than he has ever been with her.

He wants to protect Sasuke, that's why he wants to make him stronger but here she is, trying to stop Sasuke from getting stronger- But if he can't protect himself, who will protect him? Frustration began to build in her chest as she realized that she was completely useless now. Everyone was working hard, except for her.

_When did I become this weak…?_

"A week" she muttered. Itachi looked intently at her, taking in her features that were mixed with frustration and sadness. "Give me a week before you take him away." Sakura said then looked up to Itachi and smiled "I'll tell him myself"

Itachi smiled "Very well" he said, standing.

"Rest well, Sakura" he said as he walked towards the door.

"You too" she murmured softly.

Sasuke paced up and down the corridor, frequently glancing at the door to see if it has opened yet and when it finally did he saw Itachi walking out, nearly bumping into him with his pacing.

Itachi smiled at him "You can go in now, before you make a hole in the floor" Itachi teased as he poked his little brother's forehead then walked down the corridor. Sasuke glared at his brother's back that grew smaller down the hallways.

He entered the room "What did you two talk about?" he asked immediately, his voice ringing with suspicion.

Sakura gave him an awkward smile "Do you think I'm a hindrance? Sasuke" she said, trying to make it sound like a casual question. Sakura laughed bitterly then lowered her head "What am I saying? Forget I said that-"

"You're not a hindrance"

There was a pause then a small smile appeared on her face as she figured that he probably just said that to make her feel better. "I'm not saying that out of courtesy, Sakura" Sasuke cut into her thoughts,

"Its fine, Sasuke. No matter how you put it-"

"Sakura"

"I can no longer be of anymore use to anyone" her voice is but a whisper.

"Sakura" Sasuke tried again, beginning to feel irritated.

"I've failed as a shinobi" Sakura said, the words tumbling out in a choked sob as she looked at her hands

Sasuke scowled and grabbed her by the shoulders "Sakura, look at me!" he yelled at her, and then eyes widened, realizing what he had just said. Sakura's dulled green eyes looked at him, but her gaze never reached him. His features softened as he could only examine her face helplessly.

She gave him a bright smile "I'm sorry, Sasuke." she said, apologetic, the tears welling up in her eyes. Sasuke felt like the words had physically wounded him, the guilt was eating him from the inside.

"Sakura you should know by now that I'm not the type to say things out of courtesy" he said, then looked around, feeling awkward as he added "I'm anti-social, foulmouthed, short tempered and spoiled. I get angry when things don't go my way, but I never tell people things just because it's the right thing to say, I say them because that's what I think" he said.

Sakura's eyes widened then a large smile crossed her face "That's pretty rare of you to throw in your massive pride like that and admit your flaws, Sasuke" Sakura laughed. Sasuke twitched then raised a brow "But thank you" she added, her hands lifted to touch his cheeks. Her fingers tracing his jawline then moving up to brush her fingertips onto his lips, then to the curve of his nose then traced his eyebrows with a finger.

Sasuke closes his eyes as she moved her thumb along his eyelids then his cheekbones, brushing past his dark eyelashes along the way.

Sakura blushed then lowered her head, Sasuke smirked "Why'd you suddenly stop?" he teased.

"I-I was just thinking—that you have a very beautiful face" she said.

Sasuke snorted "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to take that" he ruffled her hair "But thanks"

Sasuke noticed that the tray of food was still placed on her side table and stood up "Do you want to eat anything?" he asked her. Sakura shook her head "I'm not hungry" she said. "I brought apples; do you want to eat one?"

A smile lit up her face as she nodded "Yeah" Sasuke smirked as he took out his kunai and began to peel the apple. Sakura listened, because that seemed to be the only thing she could do now— to listen. Sakura's hand lifted, slowly reaching towards Sasuke as he remained focused on the apple before he felt a little tug on the side of his shirt. He paused then lowered the apple and kunai then looked at Sakura.

"Sakura?"

Sakura seemed to have snapped out of it when she released her hand "A-Ah! I'm sorry!" she withdrew her hand then held it with her other hand "Just that… I wanted to touch you" Sakura mumbled softly. Sasuke felt that Sakura was acting a little off; in fact she's been a little off since she had finished talking with Itachi.

"What did Itachi tell you" Sasuke asked, although his tone was firm and sounded off as more of a demand. If Sakura wasn't going to answer him, he'll _personally_ ask his brother. Even if it was his own brother, he wasn't going to forgive anyone that implanted such self-doubting in Sakura. When no reply came, Sasuke was about to leave the room to go find Itachi before he was stopped by Sakura's fingers clutching onto his sleeve. "One week" she said.

Sasuke turned back to look at her slowly. "Itachi-san is going to take you off somewhere where he can train you without hindrance in one weeks' time" she said. Sasuke frowned and his brows furrowed.

"Tch, I told him I was going to stay with you till your eyesight returns" he said, firmly.

"There is no telling how long it will be before I can see again and by that time, Pein will have already invaded konoha." She said. Sasuke stayed silent, of course he wants to get stronger but he didn't want to leave Sakura by herself so soon.

"I'll be fine, Sasuke."

_You always say that, but you're not_

Sasuke looked dissatisfied as Sakura withdrew her hand again, from her expression he could tell she was thinking again. Sakura was pulled back to reality by the scent of fresh fruit, in this case, a peeled wedge of apple. "Bite" he said to her. Sakura obeyed and took in half of the apple into her mouth, feeling Sasuke let go of the wedge, she lifted her own to take hold of it but only to be stopped by Sasuke's hands.

She could feel Sasuke biting onto the other half of the apple whilst she was still holding on to the other half, his lips drifting dangerously close to her lips before she heard a _shaacck _sound. And she was relieved from the burden of the apple wedge's other half.

A bright red tint brushed across the kunoichi's cheeks as she began to chew uneasily. Sasuke's grip on her wrist tightened as looked seriously at her. Sakura could almost feel the intensity of his gaze even with her lack of sight "Don't worry, I'll stay with you for as long as you need me to" he muttered softly. "I promise"

A small smile appeared on Sakura's face "Okay" she said. Sasuke's frowned, feeling like she still didn't believe him he bumped his head with Sakura's

"Sakura, I mean it" he said firmly.

"Alright, Sasuke" she reassured him. Sasuke straightened then stabbed another apple for Sakura, Sakura lifted her hand "I can eat by myself" she offered, Sasuke directed her hand over to hold the needle which he used to stab the wedge.

As she ate, Sakura could feel Sasuke's gaze on her the entire time, she felt slightly uncomfortable as she knew that there might be something funny on her face and Sasuke could be silently laughing at her. "Sasuke what time is it?" she asked all of the sudden as she began to poke around her plate to check if there are any more wedges left. Sasuke directed her hand down onto one more before lifting her hand back up for him to take a bite.

"Nearly 7 in the evening" he said as he chewed.

"Mm… if possible, Sasuke could you lead me to the bathroom? I want to take a shower" Sakura said. "By yourself?" Sasuke said, raising a brow. If he remembered correctly, Ino was supposed to come in around this time to help her. "Oh? Do you want to join me? Sasuke" Sakura asked with a smile. Immediately Sasuke turned red. Sakura could vaguely guess what Sasuke looked like right now, but it was still a little frustrating being unable to see it for herself.

"Ino probably wouldn't be coming in today, the hospital must be busy again. Beside I've taken lots of showers, I'll manage" Sakura said.

Sasuke ended up agreeing to lead Sakura into the bathroom. "Are you sure about this, Sakura?" Sasuke asked for the fifth time.

Sakura stepped lightly into the bathroom "Of course" she said.

"How will you know which is the shampoo?" Sasuke asked

"By smell" Sakura answered immediately

"Where is the towel rack?"

"To the right of the tap"

"What if you trip?"

Sakura let out a light hearted giggle "Stop worrying, Sasuke. I know my way around" she assured him.

Sasuke gave in and sighed "Alright, just call if you need help" he said. He watched her nod before he closed the door. Sakura slipped out of her hospital robe then carefully took a step forward, visualizing and remembering her footsteps. Although she told Sasuke that she knew her way around, however she found it more difficult that she thought. Regardless she managed to get herself under the shower head and turn on the tap.

Sasuke, who was leaning against the bathroom door, let out a breath upon the sound of the shower.

Sakura jolted at the sudden coldness of the water raining about her body before turning the tap the other way to even out the temperature. She let out a sigh as she let her thoughts run like the water. Her heart raced just by thinking about

_Don't worry, I'll stay with you for as long as you need me to. _

_I promise…_

Sakura let out another sigh "Don't go making decisions like that on your own…" she mumbled. She lifted her hand up to feel around for the bottle, once she got her hands on one, she popped the cap and sniffed its contents. She recognized the smell as her shampoo.

Sasuke was still leaning against the door of the bathroom and waiting patiently for the shower sounds to cease so that he may go and get Sakura's robes and wait for her to come out. He twitched _'For some reasons I feel like some kind of dog' _he shook his head roughly and tried to get the thoughts away from him. He was doing this for Sakura, she needs him now.

Sakura stood under the showers, her hand reaching out to put back the bottle of body wash she had just used onto the rack. But it seemed she didn't reach far enough when the bottle landed on the floor instead, Sakura bent down to try and feel for it however when she couldn't seem to be able to find it with just her hands, she began to feel frustrated.

Sakura had seemed to become conscious of the tormenting darkness that surrounds her; she panicked but no matter where she turned to, there was always darkness. She was finding trouble in breathing as the haunting memories of her childhood began to flood her mind to the point of suffocation. _The cave, the screams, the training, the cold_, _she could feel no warmth. _Her body has gone numb. Even though she had told herself that she had gotten used to it-

She was afraid.

She clutched herself as she sat on the tiled bathroom floors and screamed for Sasuke "Sasuke! Sasuke!"

Outside, Sasuke was immediately alarmed by this and nearly kicked the door off of its hinges. "Sakura, what's wrong?" he demanded. His heart nearly destroyed itself when his eyes fell on the shrunken figure of Sakura, the water still running on her body as her hands clutched herself. Her nails digging into her skin and drawing blood, her eyes were staring off into the non-existent distance; her wet hair was clinging onto her back and face and her entire body was trembling uncontrollably. She looked so small—so powerless.

Sasuke didn't waste a second to turn off the tap before wrapping a towel around Sakura. Sakura's eyes seem to widen with a sharp intake of breath "No… no! Don't come any closer! Someone help me! Please!" Sakura begged, clutching her head and shutting her eyes. Sasuke tried to pull her back by taking her by her shoulder and calling out to her. But her trembling wouldn't stop. "Sasuke… help" Sakura's voice wavered. Sasuke snapped, afraid of what is going on in her head, he panicked. He hadn't even realized that he had sub-consciously activated his sharingan as he grabbed her by the wrist "Sakura, Sakura! I'm right here! Listen…!"

Acknowledging the presence of warmth within her darkness, Sakura released herself to cling onto Sasuke with her eyes opened and alarmed. "It's okay" Sasuke's voice told her. Her chest and shoulders heaved as she said with a frightened voice

"It's dark… Sasuke" her voice was muffled in his shoulder. Sasuke wrapped his hands around her towelled body and rubbed her back soothingly, scowling at him for not knowing what to say to her. Sakura buried her face into his shoulder as she spoke again "It's so dark, I'm scared… I don't want to be blind forever" her voice broke into soft, muffled squeaks.

Sasuke blinked and his head started to hurt, he saw flashes of images but they all disappeared before he could make out what they were. _Wait- was that blood on his hands? _

_No, they weren't his hands. _

_They were a lot smaller; he guessed they belonged to a child's but for some reasons, those fingers... The way they were shaped was vaguely familiar. _

It had only just hit him that those fingers belonged to Sakura.

He was seeing her memories from back when she was an Iwagakure assassin. He was aware that Sakura had a cold-blooded murderer alter ego that she couldn't get rid of to this day but she has learned to suppress it to the point that it no longer has any effect on her. Another thing Sasuke knew was the fact that the darkness has proven to be the trigger for Sakura's murderous side to surface as a survival instinct due to her traumatized childhood.

But why was he seeing this now?

Then he realized that his sharingan had been activated out of his panicked fear for Sakura, immediately he released it. Now wasn't the time to think about that. He made sure that the towel had been wrapped securely around Sakura before picking her up and moving her back to her bed.

He placed her down gently before grabbing another towel and draped it over her head and dried her hair as gently as he could. Sakura was hugging her knees as she looked down in a hooded gaze. Then, as if she had seen something, a look of fear flashed across her eyes. This didn't go unnoticed to Sasuke, in the midst of drying her hair, he wrapped his arms around her "It's alright, I'm right here." He said. Sakura's features calmed and she mumbled tiredly into his neck

"Sorry about this, Sasuke" she said.

Sasuke remained silent till he felt her trembling stop. "E-Erm, Sasuke" she began. "Hm?"

"I can dress myself now" she said. A faint tint of red appeared on Sasuke's cheeks as he released Sakura, straining to keep his eyes off her. _Too late, he looked. Sakura's cheeks were flushed as she held on to her towel, the only thing between them were that thin layer of fabric he could so easily remove from her body. Her skin was creamy, the curve of her shoulder, the bend of her legs were tempting him beyond the point of no return. And her chest- let's not go there._

His hormones were disturbingly loud; every muscle in his body was throbbing. The only thing holding him back was his sheer will and he was afraid that was going to snap too. Sakura pouted and tried to cover herself even further "I can feel you staring, Sasuke" she said, crossly. It was only then did Sasuke manage to tear his eyes away from her and sit on the chair next to her bed with his back facing her. Warmth crept up to the tips of his ears as the embarrassment of being caught staring got to him, was he really staring that intently to the extent that Sakura could feel it? Would Sakura think he's some kind of sick pervert now? Depression had soaked him to the bones and he began emitting a very heavy aura.

Sakura, now dressed in a fresh set of hospital robes, seemed to have sensed his mood and tried to comfort him. "I'm done, Sasuke" she started out, but there came no reply from Sasuke nor did she hear his movements. "I-It's alright, Sasuke. I'm not mad about you staring" she said, then straightened "In fact, the fact that you even stared at a half-naked woman proves that you're a healthy young male" Sakura stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

Sasuke snorted _'Oh I'm healthy, alright' _he thought.

He then groaned inwardly and sunk himself deeper into depression and burying his face in his palms. Sakura was beginning to worry now and wondered what was bothering him so much "Are you not feeling well, Sasuke?" she asked him. Sasuke heard shuffling on sheets and he turned around to stop Sakura from trying to get up.

"I'm alright, Sakura." He assured her.

Sakura then stopped climbing out of her bed and sat back "If you say so" she smiled.

Sasuke grabbed her towel and draped it over her still damp hair "Who was the one that told me to dry my hair properly or I'll catch a cold?" Sasuke said with a wry smile. Sakura gave a sheepish grin as he dried her hair for her relishing the feeling of being treated like a child. As he was drying away, his movements slowed as he wondered about something. He stared into her eyes as she stared back blankly. He wondered if-

He held Sakura by her face and made her face him completely. "Sasuke?" Sakura asked questionably. "Hold still, Sakura" Sasuke said as his sharingan appeared in his eyes. Sakura could sense the sudden build-up of chakra his Sasuke's eyes "Sasuke, what are you-" "Relax, Sakura"

Still having no idea what Sasuke was trying to do by activating his sharingan on her considering the fact that she's blind and dojutsu will have no effect on her. Sasuke on the other hand had something else in mind, if he could activate his mangekyo for just a few seconds, he might be able to enter Sakura's system and mend the broken link. The physical should give him the access he needs to get his mangekyo into her system and a partial activation of the tsukiyomi should give him some control of her memories. It wasn't a solid thesis, but Sasuke figured it was worth a shot.

Sasuke shut his eyes for a moment and did as Itachi made him practice; as soon as he's build up enough chakra, his eyes instinctively shot open. Without a second wasted, he had entered Sakura's mind. He stood in the middle of nothing but darkness. Strange, he'd expected to be something more here. He shut his eyes and his chakra flared, trying to sense for something- broken.

"Sasuke?"

He heard a voice, Sakura's voice. He opened his eyes and before him stood Sakura, clad in a white dress like the one she was wearing when they first met. "What are you doing in my head?" Sakura asked, tilting her head to one side with a questioned expression. To be honest, Sasuke hasn't got the slightest clue in what exactly was he supposed to be looking for. He was hoping there'd be something that's obviously broken, he looked around for it but there was nothing more than the overwhelming darkness. "Sakura-" he turned back to where Sakura was standing before, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Sakura…?" he looked around, every muscle on guard as he desperately tried to detect a presence. A blurry image appeared in front of him, he took a step back instinctively and held his stance, his eyes narrowing at the image that was trying to form something. It was then he realized that he was looking through the eyes of someone.

That someone was running through a forest, seemingly in pursuit of someone. He could tell from that person's line of sight that he or she wasn't very tall but definitely agile. He could make out that blur ahead was the prey. The shinobi ahead turned around and skidded to a stop, looking at him with a desperate grin. Sasuke could tell by the situation that he was just led into a trap, now he has to watch as this person deals with it. His line of vision moved to look around the surroundings and noticing the number of shinobi that had arrived around him. There was a flurry of hand movements and blood drenching the whole forest, Sasuke's blood ran cold as he recognizes that kunai that had been used to stab at numerous enemies over and over again and the hands that made those seals.

He was watching Sakura's memories.

Sakura stood up and looked down at the incapacitated shinobi whose body was barely recognizable then down at her own bloodied hands, trembling and still gripping tightly on the kunai. The vision blurred and sounds of sobbing were heard.

Sasuke felt a pang at his chest as he slowly reached out to the blurry image in hopes that he could somehow touch her, to hold her and comfort her and tell her that it's going to be alright- but he couldn't. He knew he couldn't, this was simply a figment of the past and what's in the past, stays in the past. The memory faded and Sasuke once again looked around, awaiting for the next event.

'It's dark…'

Sasuke's head shot up "Sakura…?" he called to her, trying to locate the source of the voice. "Sakura, answer me." he snapped impatiently. His movements paused when he noticed a very familiar smell. One he recognized all too well- the smell of blood.

However it wasn't just the smell of blood, it was a mixture of blood accompanied by the smell of moist dirt and decay that followed afterwards. Sasuke cringed at the unpleasant odour before he heard her voice again

'Please forgive me… I won't fail next time. Please… don't hit me'

Sasuke's eyes widened as what followed after were a series of whip lashings but he heard no sound of pain from Sakura. With every lash he felt his fingers clench tighter, his sharingan that he held during his time here morphed into his mangekyo and a line of memories appeared before him, forming a kind of hallway. However this time, the images were filled with their time as Team Kakashi ranging from their first meeting to their latest reunion. Sasuke made his way down the makeshift hallway, not sparring the memories a glance but more focused on what was ahead and in this case- _who _was ahead.

In the end he was right, Sakura stood at the end of the hallway but she was back to her 12 year old self. Her eyes still blank as she looked down and her body seemed poorly carried with her shoulder slump and her back slightly hunched. He immediately took her small figure in his arms; Sakura blinked "It's alright, Sakura. It's alright" he said.

The dilute in her eyes faded and she melted into the embrace 'Thank you…'

Sasuke found himself back in the hospital room with Sakura still in his embrace. "Sasuke?" Sakura spoke.

Sasuke's arms tightened around her "Just let me stay like this" he said.

"O-Okay" she squeaked.

Eventually Sasuke let go of her and they talked for a bit.

"So you still can't see?" he said.

Sakura nodded "Did you do something?" she asked him.

"I don't really know now" Sasuke mumbled. Sakura yawned, reminding Sasuke of the time.

"It's nearly ten, go to sleep" he said, moving to get off the bed before Sakura's finger brushed past his sleeve in failed attempt to grab his arm. He smirked as she pouted at her own miss "What is it, Sakura?" he said.

A faint tint of red painted her features as she smiled at him "Do you mind if we sleep in the same bed tonight, Sasuke?" she asked him. Sasuke raised a brow, not that she could see it but she could definitely read the awkward atmosphere. "I-It's okay if you don't want to though. I just thought that you've sleep on a chair for the past week and it's not good for the posture so…" Sakura nervously played with her fingers.

Sasukle smirked "Alright then" he said then leaned in to place his lips beside her ear as he said "but if something happens to you in this bed, it's not going to be my fault" he whispered seductively into her ear and left her to ponder about the meaning on her own as he removed his gear because we all know how dense Sakura is.

Sasuke took off his white jacket and sandals along with his pouch, holster and headband, but making sure to leave a free kunai on the side table for security purposes. Sakura snapped out of her reverie when she felt Sasuke sit on the bed, she shuffled to the side to allow Sasuke more room but made sure she didn't fall off the bed. Surprisingly, it wasn't as cramped up as Sasuke thought. At first they laid facing upwards with their shoulders touching, not quite sure what to do since they weren't exactly sleepy. "Sasuke?" Sakura started. Sasuke gave a grunt to show her that he was listening. "Just checking if you're asleep" Sakura said. Sasuke smirked, she was feeling lonely. He turned to his side and snaked his arms around Sakura before pulling her to his chest till their thighs touched.

Sakura felt her cheeks heating up as she allowed herself to lean against his chest. Immediately when she made contact, she felt herself melting against him as she breathed in his scene and dozed off almost immediately. Sakura felt her peaceful breathing and dared himself to look down and at the sight of his lover's features, he felt his own soften.

He felt a memory lingering in the back of his mind, something about this just felt vaguely familiar. He frowned and tried to remember but nonetheless he found his eyelids heaving down on him and he allowed himself to be drowned in deep slumber.

Morning came and Sakura was first to wake, she shifted as she found herself nearly suffocating in Sasuke's chest. She groaned and screwed her eyes shut first before she opened them, only to be greeted by something bright and overwhelming- sight.

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**Review if you like it, review if you don't. I'll smother you with cookies either way 3 **


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